Free Falling
by Lavender Zen
Summary: Lily's in love with James. James is in love with someone else. Voldemort will stop at nothing to get a message across to Lily. But will the messages be interpreted before it's too late? **Complete**
1. Love at First Site

A/N: Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone/anything in the Potterverse. I do own the names/places that you do not recognize and the plot of the story.  
  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter One  
Love At First Site  
  
  
  
It starts with a ticking-every time that person smiles, every time you hear their laugh, every time you watch that person get hacked off at their little pet peeves. Then it gets louder and louder and louder until it just goes- BOOM! Then you've hit it dead-on.  
  
Yep, I'm talking about that thing that happens between two people. The big "L" word. That's right-love.  
  
When I first met James Potter-there was a boom! at first sight. Of course, we were only eleven and we had just barely met, but, I could tell that, given some time, he would be the one that I would want to spend the rest of my life with.  
  
I remember that day like it was yesterday. It was August twenty-seventh, three seventeen pm., to be exact, and we were both in Diagon Alley to purchase our things for our first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
We were standing in Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, being fitted for our black Hogwarts robes. James was standing on a stool when I walked in. His cronies - that would later introduce themselves as Sirius Black and Remus Lupin - were with him.  
  
"Good afternoon, dear," said the old witch at the counter. I was by myself that day, for my parents were Muggles-those who have no magic in them. "Hogwarts, I presume?" I smiled and nodded. I was, of course very excited that I got accepted into a school that would teach me magic. "I'll be right with you, dear," the old witch said, and walked into a back room.  
  
"Hullo," said James. "I heard that witch say you were going to Hogwarts."  
  
"Yes," I replied shyly. Back then, I was a little shy, but under the circumstances of not having my parents with me, it made me feel all the more timid.  
  
"What House do you want to be in?" James asked. He looked rather bored, and it beats me why he wasn't talking to his friends. To this day, I say it was fate.  
  
"House?" I asked, confused and feeling rather stupid-which, I'm proud to say, is not a word that describes me.  
  
"James," said another black-haired boy on a stool not too far away from James. "Did you not notice that her parents aren't here? She's Muggle-born. Aren't you?"  
  
"Well, I'm not sure I know what a Muggle is," I replied.  
  
"That answers our question," said the black-haired boy to James. "The name's Sirius Black," he added, turning to me again and smiling kindly. He had a lot of black hair, dark eyes, and tan skin. He was also a foot taller than me. I noticed Sirius glare at James suddenly.  
  
"Oh, right," James said quickly. "I'm James Potter, and him over there," he said pointing to a brown-haired, tired-looking boy, the same age as I was, who was sitting on a bench by the door, reading a magazine, "he's Remus Lupin." Remus waved cheerfully.  
  
I turned back and looked at James. He had a lot of black hair like Sirius, except it stuck out every which way. He had thin-rimmed glasses covering dark eyes and peaches-and-cream skin. James saw that I was watching him and smiled, I quickly turned my head and blushed.  
  
"Okay, dear," the old witch, who had just come out of the back room, said. "Stand up on the stool and we'll have you measured in no time."  
  
"Um," said James, glancing at Sirius, who seemed to be whispering something to him. I looked at him again. "I didn't catch your name."  
  
"I didn't give it. It's Lily. Lily Evans," I replied, as the witch started measuring me.   
  
James and Sirius were declared finished, hopped off their stools, a witch, who looked just like Remus, paid for the three boys' robes, which I assumed that Remus had been fitted prior to when I came in, and left the little shop.  
  
"What a pretty girl," said the witch that was measuring me. "You know, you do look like a Lily. Such a pretty name, too. And those young boys were all giving you the googley eyes when you weren't looking."  
  
"Are they all brothers?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, heavens, no, and I pray for Mrs. Lupin, who has to keep track of those three today. You see, James's and Sirius's mothers had a meeting to go to, so Remus's mother got stuck with watching them and helping them get all their stuff for Hogwarts."  
  
"Why is watching the three of them such a bad thing?" I asked. "They seemed really nice."  
  
The witch gave a derisive laugh.  
  
"Yeah, dear, they are nice and polite, it's just that they're the biggest troublemakers I have ever seen. Well, James and Sirius are, I'm not sure about Remus, I only met him a few weeks ago. You see, James and Sirius like to come in here when they're visiting the Alley, and they tell me all sorts of jokes and the troublesome things they had done since they last came in. One day, they brought Remus, he was a little shy at first, but after a while, he seemed to fit right in. Well, dear, you're done," said the witch, and she helped me off the stool.  
  
After I had paid the witch with funny looking gold coins called Galleons, I walked out onto the street and decided to go to Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore.  
  
When I got inside, the first thing I saw was a young wizard with a badge on his chest stating "Manager" running around and picking up books that magically (which I reminded myself was probably how they kept dropping) fell in threes and fours, only to find that they'd turn into reptiles or rodents as soon as he touched them. That made him let out a shriek of terror.   
  
I started walking towards the back of the bookstore to see what interesting topics they sold, since I was fascinated on learning as much as I could about magic, and I also loved reading, when I felt a pair of hands land on my waist, another pair of hands cover my mouth and then I was being dragged off backwards.  
  
When it looked like me and my kidnappers reached a dark corner, the pairs of hands let go of me. Without thinking, I swung around and whacked somebody with the package that contained my new robes.  
  
With slow realization, I watched my bag collide with the side of Sirius's head.  
  
"Oh! Sirius," I squealed. "I'm so sorry! I'm just in a new place all by myself and since everybody here is either a witch or wizard, I feel I have to be extra careful…I don't know if that makes any sense," I rambled. Usually, I don't ramble on and on, but, I felt really bad that I hit someone that I had just met and hoped to be friends with upside the head.  
  
"No worries, Lil," he said, adopting a nickname for me. I hate when people give me nicknames, but, right then, I felt it was the least I could do to let Sirius call me that. "I'm not hurt - the bag is squishy."  
  
"What in the world did you do that for?" I asked, glancing at James and Remus who were standing behind Sirius.  
  
"We wanted to let you watch Mr. Aster. He's scared to death of anything with more than two legs - the smaller the worse." Sirius chuckled.  
  
"Remus Jonan Lupin. Sirius Kent Black. James Alan Potter. What do you think you are doing?" came a stern woman's voice. I looked up to see Remus's mother towering over where we were crouched.  
  
"Hallo, Mum," said Remus, putting on a sweet smile that could have fooled anyone - anyone except his mother, that is.  
  
"Don't hallo me, young man. What in the world were you thinking? Torturing Mr. Aster like that? You need to go and apologize. All of you. Now."  
  
James, Remus, and Sirius stood up and stalked over to where Mr. Aster was sitting behind the counter and looking as if he was going to be violently ill.  
  
"Why, oh, why couldn't I have any daughters?" Mrs. Lupin said, more to herself.  
  
"The lady at the robe shop was right - they are horrible," I commented, more to myself.  
  
"Oh, no," Mrs. Lupin said, turning to me. She had a very pretty face and she seemed to be about the age of thirty-five. "They are the most polite and gentlemanly boys I have ever seen. The only thing is - they get enjoyment from watching other people suffer. I don't mean the pain kind of suffering - I mean the humiliating kind of suffering. They play jokes on others to get a good laugh." Mrs. Lupin sighed. "Well, can't live with them and can't give them up for adoption." I giggled. "Anyway, I saw you in Madam Malkin's talking to James and Sirius. What's your name again, dear?"  
  
"Lily Evans," I replied sweetly.  
  
"Well, I'm Remus's mother, if you didn't figure that out yet. Which reminds me - where's your mum and dad?"  
  
"Actually, they're not a witch or wizard," I said.  
  
"They're what we call Muggles," Mrs. Lupin pointed out.  
  
"Sirius said something like that earlier, but I had no idea what he was talking about."  
  
"Lily, darling, would you like to go to Florean Fortesque's to get some ice cream after they apologize?"  
  
"Sure," I said, giving her a smile. I was also giving her a look that said, "Those boys just played a horrible joke on someone and you're going to buy them ice cream?"  
  
"Well, some battles aren't worth fighting, are they?" said Mrs. Lupin, interpreting my look. I turned pink and ran my fingers trough my dark red hair. "That James and Sirius are good looking young boys. Their resemblance almost makes you think they are brothers." I blushed even more.  
  
"They're all good looking," I replied shyly-which, of course, was the truth. Sirius had this look about him that said, "I'm bad and you know it". Remus looked like the sweet type, the type that makes dinner for you on a date with him, the type that would sing you a lullaby before you went to sleep-but then I had to remind myself that, since he was hanging around with James and Sirius, he must be just as big of a prankster as they were, but had a good way of covering it up. And then there was James-his dark eyes aglow with laughter, tall, strong, handsome.  
  
Yeah, I was only eleven, and you probably think that eleven-year-olds aren't old enough to feel something like that, but I did.  
  
After James, Sirius, and Remus apologized to Mr. Aster and turned his hair blue then back again, we left Flourish and Blotts, to get ice cream.  
  
Those were the days.  
  
What am I saying? Those weren't the days-when it came to Platform 9 ¾-that started "Those Days".  
  
I was with my mum and dad and my sister Petunia, who was two years older than me, and for some strange reason, had stopped talking to me since I received my letter from Hogwarts. I certainly refused to believe she was jealous. Anyway, I was giving Mum a kiss goodbye, when Sirius ran up behind me and grabbed me around my waist.  
  
"Lils!" he cried. I was shocked. Never had anyone shown so much enthusiasm to see me. Oh, sure, I liked having friends, but I mostly kept to myself in my pre-Hogwarts days.  
  
"Sirius," I said. "These are my parents," I added, seeing the look on my mum and dad's faces. "And that's my sister Petunia. Everyone, this is Sirius Black, I met him in Diagon Alley."  
  
Sirius smiled at them and bowed.  
  
"Look at that, Thomas," my mother squealed, "he bowed."  
  
Petunia muttered something under her breath. We used to be the best of friends, but now it was like she hated me.  
  
"Sirius, where's James and Remus?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, I dunno, I'm sure they're already on the train wrecking havoc and mayhem. You know, the usual. I came to find you to see if you know how to get onto Platform 9 ¾."  
  
"Actually," I said, nervously glancing at my parents, "I don't know how. I don't think that there is a Platform 9 ¾."  
  
"Of course there is. See that barrier over there?" he asked, pointing to a very solid-looking barrier. I nodded. "You just walk right through and you're there. Go on, try it."  
  
"I don't think so. Mrs. Lupin told me how you all are. I'm not going to go get myself knocked out just because of some joke."  
  
"Lils, I'm hurt that you would think such a thing. Here, I'll escort you through the barrier," he said, taking the cart that held my trunk and owl cage (my mum and dad had exchanged extra money at the Gringotts wizard bank so I could get a cool birthday gift, which was the past May, for myself from the wizard world).  
  
"Thanks," I said. Mum sighed-I'm positive she was thinking about what a gentleman this boy was. "Goodbye, Mum. Goodbye, Dad. 'Bye Petty, darling." Petunia just grumbled at this.  
  
I turned around and followed Sirius up to the barrier.  
  
"Now. You walk just need to walk through, like so," he said. He linked his arm through mine, steered the cart with one hand, and we walked through the barrier.   
  
We slid sideways, and Platform 9 ¾ materialized before my eyes.  
  
I gasped. Platform 9 ¾ was alive with witches, wizards, and students. Owls were hooting excitedly, cats prowled in search of mice. A scarlet steam engine was laid out before us.  
  
"This is amazing," I said to Sirius.  
  
"Isn't it?" he replied. He watched me look around with my eyes wide. "It only gets better, Lil."  
  
Sirius and I boarded the train; he was leading me to where James and Remus were sitting. When we reached the compartment, which was empty except for James and Remus, Sirius and I lifted my trunk to the overhead compartment.  
  
"Hullo, Lily," James said. I blushed a bit.  
  
"Hi, Lily," said Remus with a polite nod.  
  
"Hello James, Remus," I said as Sirius and I situated my trunk.  
  
"Anybody up for a game of Exploding Snap?" Remus asked once Sirius and I had sat down and the Hogwarts Express started its long journey.  
  
"Exploding what?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, you don't know," said Sirius. "It's like a card game. You build a card castle and whoever's card makes the castle explode, loses."  
  
"Um, I think I will sit out on this one. I'm going to read," I stated. I got out my copy of Standard Book of Spells: Grade One, sat down next to Remus, and started reading.  
  
Within a few minutes, I became captivated in the game of Exploding Snap-I never knew a card castle could become so high, and the cards just kept appearing once somebody ran out of them.  
  
After a few more minutes, the castle (which was as tall as I was) exploded, declaring Sirius the loser. I looked out the window and watched the meadows rushing by.  
  
"So," Sirius said after a few moments of silence, "what House do you hope you get?"  
  
"Gryffindor, wands down," said James.  
  
"Wands down?" I said. "Isn't the expression 'Hands down'?"  
  
"You see Lily, darling," Sirius said, "they who have no wands, have to use their hands."  
  
"Oh," I replied. "Tell me about the Houses; I've heard nothing of them."  
  
"Well, there's Gryffindor, which all the brave people are in," said James.  
  
"There's Ravenclaw, which all the smart people go in," said Remus.  
  
"There's Hufflepuff, where the people are hardworking," James added.  
  
"And then there's Slytherin," said Sirius. "Nasty House. 'Most everybody who's been in that House turns out to be Dark."  
  
"Wow," I said. "I don't want to be in Slytherin."  
  
"Actually, Lil, you don't have to worry about that. You see, most Slytherins pride themselves on being pureblooded. It's like racism in the Muggle World."  
  
"Well, that's good," I said. My friends' eyes widened. "No, I mean it's good that I don't have to worry about going into Slytherin. I really don't know what House I want to be in. The only thing I care about is that I get in the same house as you three."  
  
"I hope so too, Lil. If we get in the same House, we can corrupt you properly."  
  
I rolled my eyes.  
  
"Yeah right, Sirius. Corrupt me? Everybody says that you three are little gentleman. You saw the way my mum acted towards you. I mean, my mum is old-fashioned, and when you bowed, she was ecstatic."  
  
"Most witches and wizards are old-fashioned, compared to Muggles," Remus explained. "I mean-we're still using parchment and quills, candles and torches. Of course, we don't need the Muggle inventions of the ballpoint pen, loose-leaf paper, and electricity."  
  
"You know a lot about Muggles," said James.  
  
"My mum likes me to be well educated about Muggle sociology, history, and religion-things of that sort."  
  
"Oh, so you're saying you're smarter than us?" I teased. We giggled.  
  
"Actually," Remus pointed out, "since you're Muggle-born, you went to a Muggle school to learn everything you know: Math, reading, writing, science-things like that-which makes you smarter than us. As for us here," he indicated himself, James and Sirius, "we were home-schooled and our education is biased on what our parents, as witches and wizards, think we should know."  
  
The four of us played Exploding Snap seven more times (I lost every time) until a plump witch pushing a food cart appeared in our compartment.  
  
The rest of the train ride, I continued reading while Sirius and Remus played wizard chess-which I found very strange since the pieces were alive and you told them where to move. James was busy scribbling on a piece of parchment.  
  
When the Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmead Station and all the students had departed, a giant of a man called for the first years and led us to a dozen, more or less, rowboats sitting in a large lake that reflected the night sky. James, Remus, Sirius, and I climbed in to one and we sailed across the lake towards the gigantic Hogwarts castle.  
  
Once in side the castle, a stern-looking witch with a tight bun and square-rimmed spectacles led us into the Great Hall.  
  
As we, the first year students, stood in a line, waiting to be Sorted, the other students came in, laughing and chatting of their summer holiday. I noticed that there were five long, wooden tables: One had a red banner with a golden lion on it; one had a green banner with a silver serpent; one had a yellow banner with a black badger; one had a blue banner with a bronze eagle; and one had a very large black banner with the Hogwarts coat of arms on it, which was where the teachers sat.  
  
After all of the students had settled themselves, the stern-looking witch brought out a ragged, black hat-which sang an odd song, telling us about the different Houses. Next, the witch said she'd call out our names, we'd put on the Sorting Hat, and it would place us in the House that we'd be best in.  
  
After three or four names were called, the witch called "Black, Sirius".  
  
Sirius walked up to the Sorting Hat, sat on the stool, and placed it over his head. Not more than two seconds later, the hat shouted out "GRYFFINDOR!" and Sirius took off the hat and walked excitedly over to the table with the red banner: The Gryffindor Table.  
  
About eight more names were called before "Evans, Lily" was called. I walked up to the Sorting Hat, sat down, and placed the hat over my head. It was so big that it went down over my eyes. Then I heard a voice whisper in my ear, "Lily Evans…you seem difficult to place."  
  
Difficult? I thought.  
  
"Oh yes," the hat whispered. "You are eligible for all the Houses. Now, we can eliminate Slytherin off our list-your heart's too pure and you're Muggle-born. You're hardworking and a loyal person-but you're too smart for Hufflepuff. And my goodness there is cleverness here. Lots of bravery too. So it stands between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."  
  
Sirius is in Gryffindor, I thought.  
  
"Yes, yes, he was not hard to place at all. Well, is it Gryffindor?"  
  
Yes.  
  
"Okay," the hat said. "If that's what you want, it'll be GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
I took the hat off, set it down on the stool, headed towards the cheering Gryffindor table and sat next to Sirius.  
  
"Congratulations, Lil," he said.  
  
"You too," I said smiling.  
  
When "Lupin, Remus" was called, Sirius and I held hands for luck, in hopes that Remus be sorted into Gryffindor, or at least not Slytherin.  
  
The hat seemed to find Remus hard to place, too; but after a minute and a half, it shouted out "GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
The Gryffindor table cheered-Sirius and I were probably the loudest-as Remus came over and sat across from Sirius.  
  
"All we need is James," Sirius said, as "Monts, Shelby" became a Ravenclaw.  
  
"Potter, James," the stern-looking witch called. James walked up and put the Sorting Hat on. I reached across the table and grabbed Remus's hand as well as Sirius's.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!"  
  
The Gryffindor table erupted with yells and cheers as James strode over and sat across from me. I flashed him a huge grin.  
  
"We're all together!" I cried.  
  
"I wouldn't have it any other way," James said.  
  
The headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood up and welcomed us all to a new year. He also gave repute to the late headmaster, Professor Dippet.  
  
Then, food of all kinds appeared on the golden dishware. I filled my plate with mashed potatoes, green beans, and pork chops. It was really good, but nothing compared to my mum's cooking.  
  
"So, is anybody excited for classes to start?" I asked.  
  
"Mm," said Sirius, thinking. "Not really. I mean-yeah, it will be fun to finally learn effective magic that uses a wand instead of what we had to do with only our minds."  
  
"You can do magic without wands?" I asked.  
  
"Well, you probably didn't realize it," James said. "Have you ever done something strange? Something you couldn't explain?"  
  
"Well, last year, there was a boy trying to kiss me. I punched him and told him to get chicken pox. The next day, he wasn't at school and my teacher said that he was out sick because he had gotten the chicken pox."  
  
"That explains it," James said, shoving a whole roll in his mouth.  
  
"You punched him?" Remus asked.  
  
"We'd better watch out for this one, here," Sirius said with a smile. "Don't try to make a move on her unless you're going to tell her."  
  
We giggled and I blushed again.  
  
* * *  
  
After dinner the prefects led us up to Gryffindor Tower, which was concealed behind a portrait of a very fat lady in pink silk. The prefect told us the password ("Field of heather") and led the boys up to their dormitory while the girls waited in the common room. The common room was full of squashy armchairs and a fire that was crackling merrily.  
  
The prefect came back down and led us up to the girls' dormitory. Inside, there were four four-poster beds with red velvet hangings. My trunk was at the end of the bed that was the farthest to the right.  
  
I crawled into bed and instantly drifted into sleep in between the warm sheets.  
  
* * *  
  
The first few weeks of classes were hard work.  
  
In Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall, the stern-looking witch from the Sorting, had us turn matches into needles. James was the first to Transfigure the match successfully. Sirius was second, I was third, and Remus came in fourth.  
  
In Charms class, Professor Flitwick had us levitate feathers. I excelled extremely in that class and it easily became my favorite subject.  
  
Remus seemed to be very good at Defense Against the Dark Arts and Sirius was really good at Astronomy.  
  
"After all," he had said when we brought up the subject, "I am named after the brightest star in the sky."  
  
Nobody seemed to exceptionally like Potions. And History of Magic was just a naptime for most students.  
  
I also noticed that Slytherin and Gryffindor seemed to be big rivals. Gryffindor got on well with all the other Houses. Some Slytherins seemed to get along with members of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but the majority of Slytherins just kept to "their kind".  
  
* * *  
  
After three weeks of school, James, Remus and Sirius decided it was time to pull their first prank. Their victim: a boy named Severus Snape, who always made fun of a fellow Gryffindor boy Peter Pettigrew, who was a fat little boy who looked nervous all the time and was awful at magic.  
  
The rumor had it that Peter wasn't fit for any House-he wasn't smart enough for Ravenclaw; he didn't work hard enough for Hufflepuff; he wasn't at all ambitious, so he couldn't be in Slytherin; and he wasn't brave enough for Gryffindor. So, the Sorting Hat gave him a choice of which House he wanted, because either way, he'd suffer. And he picked Gryffindor. Even if that rumor was true, James, Remus, and Sirius couldn't let a Slytherin insult another Gryffindor.  
  
The prank was that the boys were going to feed Snape a potion that would make his nose hair grow in long ringlets. The only reason I was in on this joke was because I was the resident Charms expert. That meant that I had to Charm the potion to look and taste like pumpkin juice. Then they would plant the goblet of potion where Snape usually sat, so he was guaranteed to drink it.  
  
Parts A, B, and C went well. The problem happened when an ugly second-year Slytherin sat down in Snape's place. We carefully kept an eye on the goblet of potion. A few minutes later, Snape came in and sat next to the ugly Slytherin.  
  
The ugly Slytherin then picked up the goblet of potion and took a sip. He then turned to Snape and said (of course, we couldn't hear him, but Remus could read lips), "This pumpkin juice tastes kind of funny. You try it." He then passed the goblet to Snape, who took a sip.  
  
I glanced nervously at Sirius. He returned my gaze and whispered, "Don't worry, it takes a minute."  
  
Sure enough, when a minute had passed, there were two loud pops, and Snape's and the Slytherin's nose hairs were a foot long and in neat little ringlets, both the identical color of white.  
  
Everyone in the Great Hall stared. James, Remus, Sirius, and I had to duck under the table because we were laughing so hard.  
  
"That was great!" I said after the laughter had subsided and between gasps.  
  
"That was awesome!" Sirius said.  
  
The four of us poked our heads up just in time to see Snape and the ugly Slytherin run out of the Great Hall and most likely towards the hospital wing.  
  
* * *  
  
To sum up first year: we had so much fun. James, Sirius, Remus, and, sometimes, I would pull marvelous pranks on the Slytherins. Mostly after Quidditch matches, when we lost to Slytherin-those were the worst. Like one morning, the whole Slytherin Quidditch team woke up with scarlet and gold dyed hair because James and Sirius put a Hair Coloring curse on the Quidditch locker room shampoo.  
  
As for my feelings for James-they were frustrating, but he didn't show that he liked me. Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. But no matter how hard I tried he didn't show any interest whatsoever.  
  
The trip back from Hogwarts to Muggle London was a happy-sad one. We each practiced some of the new spells we had learned and playing Exploding Snap and wizard chess. And I didn't want to leave my friends.  
  
When I made my way back through the barrier, I spotted my mum and dad and Petunia, who looked rather cranky. I knew that that summer, I wasn't going to have much fun. I hugged James, Sirius, and Remus goodbye and I left with my family back to what I should call home - but didn't - Hogwarts was my home now, where I belonged.  
  
* * *  
  
Second, third and fourth year were exactly the same - except in school, we were working harder and we all looked older and (some of us) acted more mature.   
  
Still nothing had happened with James and me. It broke my heart to watch him go out with Britannia Watson, a not-so-pretty Ravenclaw, in our fourth year. They did everything together and they were so close it was sickening to watch. But I put up with it. Maybe it was time that I gave up on James liking me. Maybe it was time to just look in another direction for some other guy that would actually want me back.  
  
It took me four years to decide what I was going to do, and I finally decided one morning that I was going to date other guys. There are lots of guys at Hogwarts that thought I were pretty handsome and a few had asked me out, but I had always said no for the fear that any second James might run up to me and throw his arms around me and tell me how much he loved me.  
  
Pretty dumb, huh?  
  
So anyway, I was on summer holiday about to go into my fifth year at Hogwarts. I'll tell you right now, life sucked.  
  
Why, you ask?  
  
Well, first of all, my sister Petunia hated me. James wasn't in love with me. And, on top of some other annoying things, I kept getting owls from people I didn't even know (over the last year I seemed to have become popular, I guess, but I hadn't done anything to make people like me. Frankly, with the mood swings I went through, I'm surprised James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter-who became part of our group during second year-still liked me). The only good thing was that James and I had been elected prefects for Gryffindor house (don't ask how the ringleader of troublemakers got to be a prefect, my guess is as good as yours).  
  
It was August thirtieth and I had to pack my things for Hogwarts, which I would need to be on the Hogwarts Express on September the first at eleven o'clock.  
  
"Lily darling," I heard my mum call. "I've got breakfast ready. It's your favorite-Belgian Waffles with strawberries and powdered sugar."  
  
"Thanks, Mum," I called back down the stairs.  
  
"Mother, you know I don't like Belgian Waffles," I heard Petunia complain.   
  
"Well, then you can have porridge," I heard my mother say, and not in the sweetest tone. I didn't want to admit it, but my mother favored me over Petty-but I kept telling myself it wasn't because I was a witch and my mother thought that that was the grandest thing in the world, but because I was easier to get along with and I had the same interest in things that my mother did, like cooking and knitting.  
  
After breakfast, I sent an owl to Sirius to see if he was excited for school to start (I knew he wouldn't be, but that was just how I liked to get him hacked off). Then I sent an owl to Remus to see how his mother was doing. She got sick a lot and once or twice a month, Remus would go see her. I sent a short letter to say hi to Peter-of course, I didn't like him very much, he was always nervous and he sounded like a mouse squeaking when he talked. Then I sent a short, formal letter to James. Yeah, James was one of my best friends, but I wanted to send him a formal letter because I was still angry with him for going out with Britannia.  
  
As soon as my owl, Ruffles, went out the window, I plaited my dark-red hair. I also applied makeup, but I never wear a lot, for I like more people to look at my eyes than my eyeliner.  
  
"Mummy," I called down the stairs after I was finished getting ready.  
  
"Yes, Lily."  
  
"I need to go to Diagon Alley today to buy all my books and stuff."  
  
"Oh, that might be a good idea. You should get new robes too, Doll, ones that bring out your figure more," she said, as I walked into the kitchen to sit down by her. She looked me up and down. "You certainly are getting hips and breasts."  
  
"Mother!" I said, blushing.  
  
"Well, you've developed late and I'm your mother, I can tell these things. I wonder why you developed late," Mum added thoughtfully.  
  
"Because witches and wizards have a longer life span than Muggles, so they have more time to get things done?" I suggested.  
  
"How long are we talking about?"  
  
"Well, Everyone says that the former headmaster of Hogwarts was one hundred seventy-two when he passed away."  
  
"My heavens," my mother said.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Well, can we go to Diagon Alley?"  
  
"Sure," she said. "And go put on more makeup."  
  
That was my mother - Mrs. Appearance. She always cared how Petty and I looked. She had us start wearing makeup when we were ten. Of course, she put it on us and we had no choice, really. She also always told us that beauty is everything.  
  
I don't think so. I think the person on the inside makes the person on the outside. And sometimes you can be a stunningly pretty girl and have poison on the inside, or you could be uglier than sin and be the most beautiful on the inside.  
  
I walked back up the stairs to my room, applied a little lip gloss to make my mother happy, grabbed my wand and headed back down the stairs so we could go to Diagon Alley.  
  
When we arrived in the Leaky Cauldron, the old bartender, Tom, offered us a drink. He knew my parents were Muggles and had never met them before, since this was the first time my mother would be going to Diagon Alley with me.  
  
"I'll have a...um...I don't know," Mum said.  
  
"Two butterbeers," I said to Tom. He nodded and disappeared to get our drinks.  
  
"A butter what?" Mum asked.  
  
"Butterbeer. Don't worry, there's not enough alcohol in there to even get a flobberworm drunk."  
  
"A flobberworm?"  
  
"Here we are," Tom said, carrying a tray with two mugs of butterbeer.  
  
"Thank you," I said. I noticed Mum sniffing the glass nervously. "Oh, Mum, just drink it," I said, taking a sip.  
  
Mum took a sip and her face lit up.  
  
"Mm, this is really good."  
  
"I told you."  
  
After we finished our drinks, we went behind the Leaky Cauldron. I tapped the brick that was two up and three to the right above the garbage can. The archway into Diagon Alley suddenly appeared and I heard my mother gasp. I grabbed her hand and pulled her through the archway and onto the street.  
  
"That was amazing," she said.  
  
"Yeah, I thought so too. But after five years, it's just normal, I guess. Where do you want to go first? We have to go to Gringotts to exchange money, then where?"  
  
"The robe shop," she said as we headed towards the snow white building.  
  
After we exchanged Muggle pounds for Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, we walked to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions.  
  
A young witch at the counter was reading a magazine when we came in. I remembered seeing her last year at Hogwarts. She was a Hufflepuff and spent most of her time in the halls either kissing boys, yapping with her friends, or smacking her gum noisily.  
  
"Is Madam Malkin in?" I asked her. Madam Malkin and I had become quite good friends, and I always chatted with her when I was in Diagon Alley.  
  
"Um, like, I think she's in the backroom. Let me check." The girl went to the backroom and came back out with an elderly witch with graying hair.  
  
"Madam Malkin," I said. "It's nice to see you again. I hope you're not too busy to fit me for my robes today."  
  
"Lily, dear, I always have time for you. And who's this?" Madam Malkin said, eyeing my mother.  
  
"This is my mother, Emalyn Evans. Mum, this is Madam Malkin."  
  
"Well, it's certainly nice to finally meet you," Madam Malkin said. "I can see where Lily gets all her beauty."  
  
My mother certainly took this as a compliment.  
  
"Oh, you know, I'm sure she looks more like her father," Mum said.  
  
"Well, dear," Madam Malkin turned to me. "Usual black Hogwarts robes?"  
  
"I was thinking more of something that would show off her nice figure," my mother butted in.  
  
"Oh, well, we do have some robes that I can have specially made for you, if you'd like. It'd only take a minute."  
  
"Sure, why not?" I said.  
  
Madam Malkin began measuring places she had never measured before. Around my hips. My bust line. And even from my chin to the middle of my chest.  
  
"Got it," Madam Malkin said. She snapped her fingers, and a few black robes appeared.   
  
They were beautiful black robes. They were soft cotton and when I tried one on, it really did hang and cling in all the right places.  
  
I walked out of the dressing room and modeled the new robe for Mum and Madam Malkin. Mum was settling my robes over my curves and I was listening to Madam Malkin talk animatedly about her grandchildren when I heard a whistle.  
  
"Look at the babe over there," said a male voice that I recognized right away.  
  
I whirled around and saw Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter standing next to the counter.  
  
"Hey guys!" I squealed. I walked over to them and hugged them and kissed them on their cheeks (yes, even Peter). "I've missed you."  
  
"We've missed you too. We got your owls this morning and figured you might be going to the Alley today," said Sirius.  
  
"How are you?" Peter squeaked. Did I tell you I couldn't stand his squeaky voice?  
  
"I'm great," I said. "Guys, this is my mother, Emalyn Evans."  
  
"Ah, yes, I remember meeting you four years ago," Sirius said. "It's good to see you again." Sirius bowed, my mother beamed.  
  
"I'm James Potter," said James with a bow. I noticed his heart wasn't in it, for he was busy looking me up and down. I ignored his attention-for I was still upset and I wanted to stop thinking about him.  
  
"Remus Lupin," said Remus, bowing also (they seemed to have remembered that I said my mother is old-fashioned and liked it when guys bow).  
  
"Peter Pettigrew," said Peter. He caught on and quickly bowed.  
  
"Ah, the troublemakers," said Madam Malkin. "Who have we been terrorizing today?"  
  
"No one at all," said Sirius with a smile. "We are actually here to get new robes. Right James?" Sirius must have noticed that James was still staring at me, and elbowed him in the ribs.  
  
"Ow! Oh, yeah. We've grown right out of our robes," James said, massaging his ribs.  
  
"Well," I said, "I'm going to go change back into my clothes and we're off to Flourish and Blotts. Now you can have Madam Malkin's undivided attention."  
  
As I changed into my Muggle clothing, I thought about how James was staring at me. Was he looking at me in a new light or was he just being a normal fifteen-year-old boy? I hoped it was just his hormones, because if it wasn't, it would be very hard to date other guys.  
  
I paid for my robes and left Madam Malkin's after saying goodbye to them all.  
  
"Darling," Mum said. Oh no, I thought. I knew that when my mother called me darling in that tone of voice, she was either talking about romance or beautifying something. I had a feeling she was going to talk about my love life.  
  
"Yes, Mum?"  
  
"That Sirius Black is such a gentleman. He is rather good looking too," she looked at me expectantly. I knew she wanted to hear me say that I liked him.  
  
"Yes, he is. I really like him," I said. My mother's eyes widened with pleasure. "As a brother, I mean. He is always coddling me and trying to protect me."  
  
"Well, who do you like?" she pressed on. "Remus seemed really nice."  
  
"Yes, I really like Remus too. But he's too secretive. I'm sure he has a lot on his mind because his mother gets sick a lot and he looks sick all the time too."  
  
"It can't be Peter," my mother said.  
  
"I don't really like Peter that much, but, I put up with him and I hug and kiss him so he doesn't feel left out."  
  
"It's that James Potter, isn't it?"  
  
I blushed.  
  
"Well, he doesn't like me, so I've decided to give up on him."  
  
"He doesn't like you? The way he was looking at you begs to differ. Actually, I didn't like the way the way he was looking at you."  
  
"I've liked him for the past four years and he didn't ever like me back. I've decided that there are probably other really great guys at Hogwarts and I'm missing action. You know, the past three years, a lot guys have asked me out. I keep telling them no because I want James, but I can't keep getting hurt by James. I'm giving up."  
  
"Oh no you don't," Mum said in a stern tone. "You are my daughter and you're not giving up. Why do you think that I want you and Petunia to be beautiful all the time? So you can have any choice of guys you want. I picked your father over-"  
  
"Three guys, I know, you said so before. That has nothing to do with this. James is such a great guy. He makes me laugh, he gives me a shoulder to cry on, and I can tell him anything."  
  
"Don't give up, but, maybe, don't try to get his attention. Actually, I never told you or Petunia this, but your father never wanted me either. And when we were in our sixth year at our school, I decided to give up too. I dated other guys, and I didn't think of him anymore. Then one day, he just opened up and said that he liked me. Of course, I still had feelings for him deep down, so I started dating him. Look where we are now, we have two beautiful daughters. Think about it, Lily. You do what is best for you. Do you think it is healthy to pine over James? If he doesn't love you back, then he's not worth your thoughts of your time."  
  
The rest of the trip to Diagon Alley was pretty much silent. My mother knew I was thinking about James and about what she had said.  
  
September the first came. I was once again at Platform 9 ¾ on the Hogwarts Express looking for James, Sirius, and Remus (I didn't care about Peter). I found Sirius sitting in an empty compartment. I kissed him on the cheek after he helped me stow my trunk and Ruffles' cage.  
  
"I would have thought you would sit up front with the other prefects," Sirius said.  
  
"And leave you three to be unruly?" I said. "I don't think so. Why doesn't James sit up with the prefects either??"  
  
"Too much pompous bigheads thinking they can control everybody's actions."  
  
"Where are he and Remus?"  
  
"Remus's mother is sick again and he couldn't leave her. Since he's an only child and she was a single mother for so long, he feels he has a duty to stay with her."  
  
"That's so sweet," I commented.   
  
"James is probably snogging with that bimbo Britannia Watson."  
  
"That certainly wasn't nice-true, but not nice," I said. We laughed.  
  
James came into the compartment and sat down.  
  
"Well, well, well," Sirius said with a smile. "Where's Britannia?"  
  
"Britannia? Why are you bringing her up?" James asked in a slightly breathless tone.  
  
"Hmm, I wonder what you've been doing with her?" Sirius said again. I felt like I had ice in my stomach. I opened a copy of Witch Weekly and read to take my mind off of the heartache.  
  
"Actually, we were talking about Lily," said James with a sophisticated smile on his face. I looked up from my magazine.  
  
"Me?" I said. "Why were you talking about me?"  
  
"Well," James said, "rumor has it that you're on the top five list of who the male student body wants to date."  
  
"There's a list?" I asked. "I thought that was something only American Muggle teenagers did."  
  
"Of course there's a list, and you're on it."  
  
"That's crazy. Why would I be on the top five list? I haven't dated anyone from school, so how could anyone like me in that way?"  
  
"Men want what they can't have, or so Britannia says, and you've turned down every single guy that has asked you out. Unless there's something you want to tell us, why didn't you accept?"  
  
"First of all, James Alan Potter," I said. I liked to use his full name when he started pissing me off, so then he would have a fair warning of when he was about to cross the line, "I am not a lesbian. Not me, not ever. That's fine if you like 'em, whatever floats your boat, but I don't have a tendency towards women."  
  
Sirius and James's eyes were wide.  
  
"You were right, Sirius," said James, "after four years we have managed to corrupt her mind."  
  
"Corrupt me? Ha! You haven't corrupted me."  
  
"I've never heard you say things like that," said Sirius. "I mean, I suppose there is a logical explanation. It's not that time of the month is it?" Sirius had a cheesy grin on his face.  
  
"Don't start with me, Sirius, dear," I said, and I turned back to my magazine.  
  
The truth was, I was still upset with James, but I was more upset that it was noticeable that I was avoiding dating and that I was on a top five list. I know those were really ridiculous reasons for being cranky, but it was how I could let my feelings out.  
  
"Where's Peter?" I asked, looking up again after I was over my silent tizzy fit.  
  
"He's hanging out with some Ravenclaws," Sirius said.  
  
"I'm going to go find that boy," James said. He got up and left the compartment. Sirius and I were alone.  
  
"Lils, what was that all about?" Sirius asked.  
  
"What was what?"  
  
"You know what. You have never been that cranky before. I understand that people go through their moments, but what is yours all about?"  
  
I looked at Sirius's handsome face. He had deep dark eyes that you could get lost in forever and a lopsided smile he flashed when he was teasing someone. This time, there was no lopsided smile on his face and his eyes were full of knowing.  
  
"Nothing really," I said. "Just something stupid."  
  
"Care to talk about it? I'll post a sign on the door that says to keep out."  
  
"Then everyone will be going around talking about how Sirius Black and Lily Evans got it on in a train compartment, because that's what those signs practically mean," I said with a wry smile. He flashed his lopsided grin.  
  
"And that's a bad thing?" he said. I giggled. His face became serious once more. "Let me guess, it's Britannia, right?"  
  
  
  
**Be a resposible reader and write a review! 


	2. The Dream

Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing except the plot. All else belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Two  
The Dream  
  
  
It was two months into my fifth year. I was sitting by myself in the common room, studying for a Potions exam that was coming up the next day. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in a corner, talking in low voices and examining a piece of parchment.  
  
My friends had been ignoring me lately. Well, not completely ignoring me, but close enough. I didn't get in on jokes and pranks anymore, they didn't invite me to do things with them in Hogsmead anymore. Nothing. They were extremely secretive and always whispered things to each other in the hall.  
  
Meanwhile, I took my mum's advice and started dating other guys. I met up a few of them in Hogsmead and they bought me butterbeers and candy at Honeyduke's Sweet Shop. I swiftly got over James when I realized how much fun I was having.  
  
I was busy writing down the twelve uses for dragon blood when I felt a tap on my shoulder and a soft hooting. I looked up and I saw Ruffles sitting on the back of my chair. He had a note bound to his leg.  
  
"Hi, baby," I said to him. I picked him up and took the note off of his leg. As I was unrolling the parchment, Ruffles flew out the open window.  
  
  
Dearest Lily,  
  
How are you darling? I'm great. I was wondering if you would like to meet me in the Charms classroom at midnight. I'll wait all night if I have to.  
  
All my love,  
  
Howard  
  
  
Howard Sedan was my current boyfriend. He was a Ravenclaw sixth year that I barely knew, but he was a lot of fun anyway. He was really sweet too. Like sometimes in the hallways, he'd conjure a bouquet of flowers for me. Every once in a while, he would send me an owl and invite me for a midnight snog session in the Charms classroom.  
  
I looked up at the grandfather clock on the other side of the room. It read eleven-thirty. I looked over at where James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting. They looked pretty occupied with whatever they were doing. I fought the urge to yell at them and demand they tell me what they'd been up to lately.  
  
I quietly got out of my chair and started towards the portrait hole.  
  
"Where are you going?" Sirius said. I whirled around to find that the four of them were staring at me.  
  
"What does it matter to you?" I replied, with a bit of venom in my voice.  
  
"It matters to me," Sirius said. "What are you up to?"  
  
"Why don't you tell me what you've been up to lately?" I spat. "I have to tell you everything, and yet, when I ask you what you guys have been up to, you just brush it off like it's no matter. I'm tired of trailing after you four and not being included. I'm out of here!"  
  
"Lily, wait!" I heard Sirius call as I walked through the portrait hole. I also heard Remus state, "Sirius, she's right. Let her go."  
  
I quickly walked to the Charms classroom on the third floor. I checked my watch before entering and went inside the classroom. I found Howard sitting on top of Professor Flitwick's desk.  
  
"Glad you could make it," he said with a smile playing across his face. He was a tall sixteen-year-old with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. Of course, my green eyes put his to shame, but his were very exquisite to look into.  
  
"I almost didn't think I could," I said.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were totally ignoring me again. I got your owl and as I was getting up to leave, Sirius asked me what I was up to. Well, I kind of bit back at him and asked him if he'd like to tell me what they'd been up to lately. Howard, I'm tired of them ignoring me. I understand that the four of them are best guy friends, but I am one of their best friends too. They've had things that they didn't want to share with me before, but this is totally out of control. They never talk to me anymore and I hate it."  
  
Howard got off Professor Flitwick's desk and wrapped his arms around me.  
  
"Shh," he said, wiping a tear off my cheek. "I know they're your best friends, but maybe they're going through an awkward stage."  
  
"Howard, we're fifteen years old. Boys should be over the stage where they think girls have cooties."  
  
"You know that's not what I meant. I meant that maybe they're letting hormones get in the way. Maybe they're looking at you as a woman instead of just the girl they used to hang out with. Maybe that makes them think that they're going to make you uncomfortable around them. Lily, don't get hacked off at them, they're-"  
  
"Just being boys, I know, my mother says that all the time." I lifted my head up and kissed Howard on the cheek. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem. Thanks for meeting me here."  
  
"Any time. Why did you want to meet me here, anyway? The usual?"  
  
"Well, at first it was, but now, I see you're distressed, so I think we should say goodnight." He kissed my lips and walked me out the door and to the end of the corridor where we would go different directions to our common rooms.  
  
As I was walking up the stairs to the corridor that would lead me to the entrance to Gryffindor tower, I heard a muffled sneeze.  
  
My heart skipped a beat and I whirled around, looking around the place. I couldn't find hide or hair of anyone. There were just the creepy suits of armor and a few portraits of witches and wizards snoozing lightly in their frames.  
  
Then it hit me.  
  
"Whoever you are under James Potter's Invisibility Cloak, show yourself right now," I spat. One of the boys must have thrown it on and followed me to see where I went. It was something they would do; they were so protective and possessive of me.  
  
"I think it's better this way," said a disembodied voice that belonged to Sirius. "Now you can't hurl hexes at me."  
  
"Sirius Kent Black," I said in my warning voice. "If you don't show yourself this instant, when I see you again, you'll either wish you were never born or you'll wish you could have children."  
  
"Yow," Sirius said. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of himself.  
  
"How far have you followed me?" Sirius looked skeptical of telling me the answer. "Don't lie to me, Sirius."  
  
"I didn't see where you went off to. You were gone for half an hour, so ten minutes ago, I said I was going to find you. We crossed paths at the wooden staircase on the fifth floor."  
  
"That's great," I said dryly. "Well, Mr. Black, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself; you needn't have come after me."  
  
"Lils, we were worried about you."  
  
"Worried about me? How could you be worried about me when you've been avoiding me since the beginning of this year? I don't understand, Sirius. Not once have you or James invited me to a Quidditch practice, and you know I like to watch you guys play Quidditch. And yet, you invite Remus and Peter to every practice. Not one single time this year have you four let me in on a prank. Are we going in separate directions, or have I become a bitch? What? Because I'm really tired of being cast out by my friends. Best friends."  
  
Sirius looked at me with pained eyes.  
  
"Lily, you are our best friend too, but we can't tell you right now. As much as I'd like to, we've been sworn to silence."  
  
"Sworn to silence? Why couldn't I get in on the deal? I can keep silent you know."  
  
"Lils it's very hard for me to explain right now. When we're ready to tell you, I promise we will."  
  
"Fine," I said, and I started walking away.  
  
"Lils, are you mad at me still?" Sirius said in a sweet tone.  
  
"Mm," I mumbled, I wasn't really, I understood that sometimes guys wanted to do things with their guy buddies, but I wanted Sirius to think differently, and I'm a horrible liar.  
  
Sirius ran up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I squealed.  
  
"What was that? Was that a, 'Oh, heck no Sirius, I think you're the hottest man alive and I want to go snog with you in the prefects bathroom'?" he said in a falsetto voice.  
  
"Ha ha," I said sarcastically, but I had a genuine smile on my face. "I shouldn't forgive you, Sirius."  
  
"But you are?" I sighed heavily. "Great!" he said. He kissed me on the cheek and let go of my waist.   
  
As we approached the Fat Lady, Sirius's lopsided grin played across his face. I didn't have much time to wonder what he was thinking of playing at, because as I was stepping through the portrait hole, he slapped me on the butt.  
  
* * *  
  
Austin Perry was at the Reed house having lunch with his Aunt Mattie, Uncle Phillip, and his two cousins, Hannah and Jeffrey. Austin was busy telling Mattie about his job at the Ministry of Magic as an Ovbliviator. Phillip was sipping tea and watching his ten-year-old son shovel cucumber sandwiches into his mouth.  
  
"I've always wished that I wasn't born a Squib," Mattie said. She looked over at her Muggle husband with watery eyes. That was Mattie's biggest regret: Not being a witch when her three brothers and five sisters were born with magical powers.  
  
"Auntie," Austin said. "It's not what you are, but who you are. Nobody cares that you're a Squib. We love you all the same. Besides, where else could I get amazing, slaved-over cooking? Nowhere else but here."  
  
"I'm not sure that has to do with anything, Austin," Mattie said.  
  
"Well, sure it does. What I mean is that you take the time to cook meals and put your love in them; while my mum just waves a wand," Austin said. "Phil, tell me about your job. I hear you're in a new position."  
  
"Yes, yes," said Phillip, turning away from Jeffrey. "I've been moved up to CEO of the Department of Mysteries."   
  
Phillip had worked as a Muggle police officer for twelve years. A few years back, he got a job doing detective work. And now, he was the boss of the branch. Of course the branch wasn't really called the Department of Mysteries, that's just what he liked to call it. Mattie, Austin, and many other relatives of theirs with magical blood had told him about the Ministry of Magic. He was fascinated that the same line of work he was in was plainly called the Detective Unit; while at the MoM, it was called Department of Mysteries, almost as if it were an exotic job to have.  
  
"Congratulations, Phil." Austin turned to the sixteen-year-old Hannah. "Do you like going to Eton? I hear it's a really great school."  
  
"The school is likable," Hannah said, with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "I mean, we learn math, science, English-all that sodding load of tosh that can be taught at a Muggle school. Excuse me." Hannah slammed her teacup onto its saucer, got up from the table and left the dining room.  
  
"Did I offend her?" Austin asked Mattie.  
  
"No, no. You'll have to excuse her and her language too. You see, since I am a Squib, I have a slight chance of passing on genes for magic. Well, she didn't get any of those genes. It wouldn't have been quite such a problem, but, the thing is, Jeffery received the magical genes and will be going off to Hogwarts next year. She's very upset about that. She probably wishes more than I do to be a witch."  
  
"I'm sorry I even brought that up," said Austin.  
  
"Nonsense," said Phillip, waving his hand as if the matter were a fly. "You're our nephew and her cousin and she had better well get used to it, for all her cousins will be magical."  
  
Austin took a sip of his tea and looked around the dining room. There were paintings of all sort: Van Gough, Picasso, and even a painting from the famous wizard artist Laudermill, whose portrait of two swans on a lake of deep blue looked just like you were looking out a window to where the swans were gliding.  
  
Austin's grandmother and grandfather, whom were very wealthy, were very sympathetic that one out of nine of their children was a Squib. They figured that since Mattie didn't get to attend Hogwarts, they'd buy her happiness. Mattie and Phillip's large house they lived in and everything inside of it was purchased by Austin's grandparents, although not a word escaped anyone's lips about it. They all just pretended like that was a sensible thing to do, even though Phillip's job paid him a considerable amount of money and had no need for them to be given anything more.  
  
"Well," Austin began, but he was interrupt be a harsh knock at the door.  
  
"I'll get it," Jeffrey said. He raced out of the dining room and into the entrance hall. Austin, Phillip, and Mattie followed.  
  
Once in the entrance hall, Austin's eyes widened once they saw their visitor.  
  
The man standing just inside the doorway was tall, muscular and looked rather friendly. The only unwelcoming look about him was his eyes, which were red and snake-like. He smiled a pleasant smile when he saw Austin, but Austin wasn't fooled, he knew who this unexpected visitor was. And, as pleasant as this visitor seemed, he was a very unwelcome visitor.  
  
"Voldemort," Austin breathed with malice. Mattie, Phillip, and Jeffrey backed away slightly, for they had heard the name from their wizard relatives, but had never seen him.  
  
"Austin Perry," Voldemort said quite cheerfully.  
  
"I suggest you leave right this instant," Austin said. "You know I could inform the Ministry."  
  
"And you know that I could kill you all right now. But I won't, for I came here on business."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I want you to serve me, Austin. I've seen you at work. You're powerful; my insiders at the Ministry tell me that you're very ambitious. Those are the things that I prize most."  
  
"What are you saying?" Austin asked, trying to stop his voice from quivering.  
  
"That if you don't, you die," Voldemort replied. "Let's see, there are three others here that you value the life of, I'll give you four chances. I could give you more power and free rein than you could ever desire. Join me?"  
  
"I would never join you," Austin said, his voice shaking at the thought of what came next.  
  
"Hmm, that's too bad. Maybe Auntie Mattie can help you change your mind." He pointed his wand at Mattie.  
  
"Don't you dare!" spat Austin, drawing out his wand.  
  
"Expelliarmus!" Voldemort said rather lazily, pointing he wand at Austin. Austin's wand shot out of his hand and Voldemort caught it deftly. "Now, let's try this again. Maybe Mattie could change your mind. Crucio!"  
  
Mattie fell to the floor, shaking, screaming and shrieking in pain as Voldemort put the Cruciatus Curse on her. Jeffrey and Phillip watched, in shock.  
  
Voldemort took the curse off of Mattie, who then fainted.  
  
"I can give you anything you have ever wanted, Austin. Join me?" Voldemort said again.  
  
"Never," Austin hissed.  
  
"Maybe dear Uncle Phillip can change that." He pointed his wand at Phillip. "Crucio!"  
  
Phillip doubled over, convulsing and screaming. Jeffrey, too, was screaming.  
  
"Join me!" said Voldemort. He seemed like he was having fun. Like he was merely bored and this was entertainment.  
  
"I won't!" cried Austin. Looking at Phillip's limp body on the floor.  
  
"Ickle Jeffreykins might help you decide. Crucio!"  
  
Jeffrey wailed and cried out for his mummy, but was now on the floor, out cold.  
  
"Now your own life is at stake, Austin. Chose wisely, for it may be the last decision you ever make."  
  
"So be it," Austin said, prepared for what was coming next.  
  
"Pity, I could have done well with you."  
  
Austin spat at Voldemort's nicely polished shoes.  
  
"I'll see you in hell," Austin hissed.  
  
"No, I'm afraid you won't, for I can't die. Goodbye, Austin. AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort roared. He pointed his wand at Austin, a flash of green light issued from his wand, and Austin fell, spread eagle on the ground.   
  
Voldemort looked around rather cheerfully, stepped back outside the door, and said, "MORSMORDRE!" and a huge, green skull and serpent sign, twinkling like stars, rose over the house. Voldemort walked away feeling pleased, but little did he know that Hannah witnessed the whole affair from behind a sculpture just off to the left of the entrance hall.  
  
I woke up with a start. I looked around in the darkness, seeing nothing, for I closed my hangings before I went to sleep.  
  
I sat up and peeked out of my hangings to see what time it was. It was a about a quarter past midnight, two weeks before Christmas holiday. The room was illuminated with light brighter than usual from a full moon reflecting upon the snow covered ground feet below.  
  
I laid back down and thought of what had jolted me awake. A dream. About Lord Voldemort. It was so real. I hardly ever have dreams, so this one was kind of freaking me out. Especially that someone died and people were tortured in my dream. And even more that the most evil wizard of this time was in it.  
  
What did it mean?  
  
I quickly got out of bed, put on a dressing gown and tiptoed out of my dormitory, deciding to go wake up James and Sirius, for they would know more about dreams and Voldemort and things like that.  
  
I entered the boys' dormitory and walked over to Sirius's bed. I pulled back the hangings to find an empty bed.  
  
No problem, I thought. Maybe he got up to go to the bathroom.  
  
I walked over to James's bed and pulled back the hangings to find that his bed was also empty. Peter's bed was empty as well. What was going on? Remus was visiting his mother again, and James, Sirius, and Peter never went on mischievous night wanderings without him.  
  
I was looking around their room, trying to see if they had left any kind of note, when I heard a low howl. I about jumped a mile into the air. Things were starting to creep me out now.  
  
I walked over to the window and looked outside. The moon, silver and as large as a dinner plate, was hanging over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.  
  
I was getting lost looking at the wintry grounds. The silver frosted branches, the snow covered lawn, the breath rising in clouds of mist from the animals running wildly out of the forest.  
  
The animals running wildly out of the forest?  
  
I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and looked at the grounds. Sure enough, there was a black dog that looked, despite my being seven or eight floors up, massive. There was a tan-colored stag with six-point antlers. And there was a gray wolf chasing after what I made out to be a fat, gray rat. The strangest thing about this sight was that they four animals seemed to be playing together.  
  
That couldn't be right, could it? Wolves ate rats, especially ones the size of that rat. Dogs chased deer. And yet, they were taking turns playfully chasing after each other. The dog and the wolf simultaneously howled at the moon while the stag lowered his antlers and the rat climbed on.  
  
I backed away swiftly. As I was doing so, I slipped on a piece of parchment and fell right on my backside.  
  
I stood up abruptly and picked up the parchment.   
  
On top of the piece of parchment was scrawled, "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present The Marauder's Map".   
  
It certainly was a map. A map of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. Many of the passages were familiar, but there were a quite a few that looked unfamiliar. Also on the map were miniscule dots that had names by them.  
  
There was "Albus Dumbledore" pacing his study. "Roger Flitwick" in the teacher's lounge sitting next to "Minerva McGonagall". I looked to where Gryffindor tower was. "Lily Evans" was labeled in the fifth year boys' dormitory. And on the Hogwarts grounds, was labeled "James Potter", "Sirius Black", "Peter Pettigrew", and "Remus Lupin".  
  
I ran back over to the window and looked at the spot where the map had said that my friends were. All I saw was the stag, the dog, the wolf, and the rat. I looked back and forth from the map to out the window where the animals were.  
  
"Who are Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?" I questioned aloud. The map must be defective, I thought. They can't be down there, unless they're in Invisibility Cloaks. Trust James and Sirius to make something up like this.  
  
Make something up like this? Was that what they had been doing? Had they been making an enchanted map of Hogwarts?  
  
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs? Where had I heard that before? I closed my eyes and thought back.  
  
After Potions last Thursday, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were talking in low voices while James was snogging with Britannia.  
  
"Hey, Prongs," Sirius said. "Planning to come up for air soon?" The four of them laughed at this and I had just quickly walked away.  
  
That's it! Sirius had called James, "Prongs."  
  
Well, that didn't prove anything. Moony, Wormtail, and Padfoot were probably other names for Sirius, Remus and Peter.  
  
But why those specific names? I thought.  
  
I continued to look back and forth from the map to the four animals.  
  
After five minutes, I clamped my hand over my mouth and let out a muffled scream.  
  
* * *  
  
Why had it taken me so long to figure it out? I kept mentally smacking myself as well as physically smacking my forehead. Was I a witch or not? Did I not already learn that all things that seem impossible have a logical explanation?  
  
The only thing that seemed impossible was Remus's presence. He was away, visiting his sick mother, wasn't he?  
  
I rolled the Marauder's Map up and stormed out of the boys' dormitories. I decided to go back in to my bed and confront James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus in the morning.  
  
I tossed and turned all night, that night, and when I finally couldn't take it anymore, it was five-thirty am.  
  
I got up and dressed. I had decided that I would go read by the common room fire until breakfast, but I heard voices right when I stepped out of the dormitory door.  
  
"Where the hell did it go?" I heard Sirius say. I crouched down to where I could see them. Sirius, James, and Peter were already sitting by the fire. Sirius looked angry, James had his head in his hands, and Peter looked like he would burst into tears at any moment.  
  
"I don't know," Peter said.  
  
"Guys," said James, lifting his head and looking at Sirius. "If somebody took the map we're dead. Dead, dead, dead."  
  
"Do you think I don't know that? Peter had it last."  
  
"And I told you I thought we didn't need it, so I left in the dorm," said Peter.  
  
"Well that was a bloody brilliant idea, wasn't it?" raged Sirius. "What if McGonagall had come in and seen the map? Then she would have guessed everything."  
  
I thought back to the map and what had caused my sleeplessness. I had hid the map under my mattress and I couldn't sleep because I kept saying to myself over and over again, "How could that be?"  
  
"Just relax, Sirius," James said. "Nobody will figure out anything, you'd have to be bloody brilliant to do so. It's not Peter's fault, he said he left in it in the dorm, and I believe him. Maybe somebody did take it. Maybe Peter was mistaken and placed it somewhere else. Whatever happened to it, we'll find it."  
  
Sirius looked away, James put his head in his hands again, and Peter stared out the window. I stood up and started descending the staircase.  
  
"Morning you three," I said cheerfully, despite my being thoroughly pissed at them. "You certainly are up early. Couldn't sleep either? Well, don't mind me, I'm just going to read for a bit."  
  
"Lils, what are you doing down here?" Sirius said.  
  
"I'm reading by the fire - it's freezing in our dorm," I replied, with sickening sweetness.  
  
"Lily, it's five o'clock in the morning," James said. "Go back to bed."  
  
"I'm fifteen years old and on my next birthday, I'll be three," I said acidly. "You guys are up, why can't I be?"  
  
"You need your beauty rest, Lils," said Sirius.  
  
"What, are you saying I'm ugly?" I replied. Sirius launched into explanations.  
  
"No, no, of course not. I was just merely stating that you need to get some rest..."  
  
"Don't start with me Sirius. First you keep secrets from me. That's fine, because maybe they're the things that you boys think about in your spare time. But then you avoid me, don't let me in on things or talk to me anymore. Now you try telling me what to do. You can't boss me around. I'm not some animal in a cage. I don't have to do anything you say." I got up from the chair I was sitting in and stormed out of the portrait hole. I had no idea where I was going, as long as I was getting away from those three liars.  
  
I walked down corridor after corridor, staircase after staircase, passed portrait after portrait until I didn't recognize where I was. I sat down by a suit of armor and put my head in my hands.  
  
Why is it that they don't let me in on things anymore? I can't understand why they didn't tell me. Am I not one of their best friends anymore? Have I gone over the limit with my mood swings and they have decided that they didn't want me a part of their group anymore? No, Sirius wouldn't let that happen. He would tell me if I was being a bitch. But I don't understand why they didn't tell me this? I can keep secrets and I could have been helpful.  
  
No, think about it, if they had told me what they were doing, I probably would have said, "That's highly advanced magic, illegal and dangerous."   
  
Oh, no, I see now why the didn't tell me. Well, I can still keep secrets, even if I don't approve of what they had done. I should go apologize to them for being a total prat. I'm not going to tell them that I have the map, though. Not until they are ready to tell me about their secret.  
  
I stood up and started ascending a staircase that I knew I had come down, when I felt something cover my mouth and I had the sensation of being lifted off my feet, like someone was carrying me, but there was no one there. My eyes widened and I let out a muffled scream.  
  
I looked down and saw that I was floating along up the stairs and down a corridor. My arms were held be my side by an unseen force, but I was kicking my legs madly. There was still the force over my mouth that made it impossible to talk, but I screamed anyway.  
  
I "floated" up another staircase, down a corridor and into a room that I had never been in before. I was then dropped right on my arse, which was already bruised from slipping on the map the night before.  
  
I stood up abruptly and something pushed me back down, this time, I felt my legs bind together. I had the Leg Locker Curse on me.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" I shrieked. I knew it was quiet possible that I wouldn't get an answer back. "What the hell do you want from me?"  
  
"The question is: What do you want from us?" I heard a voice say.  
  
"Bloody hell, Sirius! Show yourself right this bleeding instant!" I screamed.  
  
"No, I don't think I will."  
  
"I am so hacked off at you right now, Sirius!"  
  
"Yes, and that's the exact reason why I'm not taking the Invisibility Charm off of myself. Even though I've got your wand, you're pissed off enough to do wandless magic."  
  
"Sirius!" I screamed again. "What the hell is wrong with you? You sneak up me invisibly and carry me away? You're lucky I didn't have a heart attack and died right there. Show yourself!"  
  
"Mm, no," Sirius said. "Do you want answers or not?"  
  
"Answers?" I said, looking around, although I knew I wouldn't see Sirius. My breathing coming in short gasps from anger and getting over the shock. "What kind of answers?"  
  
"You said you wanted to know the truth. We're here to give you answers."  
  
"We?" I said.  
  
"James and Peter are under the Invisibility Cloak. I used the Invisibility Charm that you told me about last year. Now, Lily, ask us what you want to know."  
  
"I don't want to know anything!" I spat, which of course was untrue, but I was going to let Sirius have the benefit of a doubt.  
  
"Did you overhear us while we were talking in the common room?" Sirius asked.  
  
"No," I said defiantly.  
  
"Don't lie, Lils."  
  
"Why are you doing this to me?" I whined.  
  
"Because you said you wanted answers. We decided that since you are one of our best friends and part of our group, we should answer anything you want to know."  
  
I bit my lip. I was bursting with questions, although I already knew the answer to their ignorance of me lately.  
  
"Ask away," I heard Sirius say again.  
  
"I won't do it. You think I know so little, Sirius, you're wrong!" My eyes widened and I bit my lip again, I had said more than I wanted to, but just enough to get up their suspicion.  
  
"What do you know?" Sirius asked.  
  
"If you don't know then I'm not going to tell you," I said.  
  
"She doesn't know," I heard James's voice say.  
  
"James Alan Potter, I know a lot more than you think I do."  
  
"What do you know?" Sirius repeated.  
  
I decided to take the annoying route.  
  
"I know math and science and reading and writing and Charms and Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions," I said.  
  
"That's not what I meant, Lily!" Sirius yelled. My eyes widened in shock. Sirius had never yelled at me before.  
  
"Well, you have to ask specific questions to get specific answers," I said.  
  
"Did you overhear James, Peter, and I talking in the common room earlier?"  
  
"Yes," I said. "Interesting conversation you were having. All of you know as well as I do that in the past five years, McGonagall has only visited Gryffindor tower three times."  
  
There was silence. I could imagine seeing Sirius's eyes widening.  
  
"Do you know about the map we were talking about?"  
  
"Oh, the charming Marauder's Map," I said with sarcasm. "Yes, yes, I bet it would be a more loyal friend than you three and Remus."  
  
"Why do say that?"  
  
"Because it told me more things in one night than you four have told me this whole year," I said.  
  
"Wait," came James's voice. "How did you know about the map?"  
  
"Hmm, I wonder if leaving it on the floor for someone to slip on it and fall on their ass was a good idea."  
  
"Where'd you find it?" Peter said, almost hopingly as to prove that he didn't do anything with it.  
  
"On the floor in your dormitory," I said.  
  
"What were you doing in our dormitory?" James asked.  
  
I looked over to the spot where I heard James's voice.  
  
"I was in there looking for you James, hoping I could have a midnight snog with you," I said, sarcasm so thick in my voice that you could cut it with a knife.  
  
"Cut the sarcasm, Lily," Sirius said. "What were you doing in our dorm?"  
  
I sighed heavily.   
  
"I had a strange dream."  
  
"Oh, did ickle Lilykins have a wittle nightmare?" James's voice issued from the corner.  
  
"I'm not a baby, James, I can take care of myself."  
  
"Then why were you going into our dorm?" Sirius asked.  
  
"I figured that since you grew up in the magical realm, you could help me decipher if it meant anything."  
  
"Would you like to tell us about this dream?" Sirius said.  
  
"No, because you don't deserve to hear it yet. My former best friends have kidnapped me, and they've been playing Twenty Questions with me when they should be getting grilled. SHOW YOURSELVES TO ME!"  
  
"Lily, what did you see on the map?" Sirius asked again, ignoring my demand.  
  
"I saw a sodding lot that proved my theory that you three aren't what you seem to be."  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" James said.  
  
"Hmm, would Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs like to explain something to me?"  
  
"What did you see Lily?" Sirius yelled again. It hurt when he yelled at me, for he wasn't the type to yell.  
  
"What didn't I see?" I replied. "Dumbldore in his study. Flitwick and McGonagall in the teacher's lounge. Myself in the fifth year boys' dormitory."  
  
"And?" said Sirius, although he had put two and two together.  
  
"James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew running around on the school grounds."  
  
"And?" Sirius repeated.  
  
"Why don't you tell me the rest, Sirius? I saw you four on the map, but that's not what I saw when I looked out the window," I said in a singsong voice. "Let me remind you that I am the one who should have my questions answered for. I already know, Sirius. I just want to hear it escape from your three's lips."  
  
"Finite Incantatem," Sirius said. Instantly, the Invisibility Charm was taken off of himself and he appeared to the left of me. I saw James and Peter taking off the Invisibility Cloak in the corner.  
  
"You want to hear everything?" Sirius said, with a serious expression on his face and a dour look in his eyes.  
  
I nodded slowly, returning his gaze.  
  
  
  
Hope you liked it. **Be a responsible reader and write a review!** 


	3. Telling Secrets

A/N: Hope you like it.  
  
Disclaimer: As usual, you know the drill. I don't own anything excpet for the plot.  
  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Three  
Telling Secrets  
  
  
Sirius looked over at James and Peter.  
  
"We can't tell her, it isn't right without Remus being here," James said.  
  
"James, it hasn't been fair to Lily. Remus knows that. He's even said so, but we've been too thick to believe him. I'm sure he won't mind if we tell Lily without his being here."  
  
"Sirius, think of what we're playing at," James said. "I for one don't think it is a good idea to be telling secrets about our best friend when he's not here."  
  
"What about Lily? She's our best friend too, James," Sirius said. Peter looked at me and nodded his head. I was glad that Sirius was sticking up for me, even if he did treat me like a little girl sometimes.  
  
"Could we not talk about me like I'm not here?" I said.  
  
"Sorry, Lily," Sirius said. I could tell that he was hacked off at me too, and it made sense that he was, for I knew a whole lot more than he thought and I wasn't letting him on. "In a way, James is right. But, Remus has been saying that you're our best friend too and that we've kept you in the dark long enough." He sighed. "What do you want to know? Ask us anything."  
  
"Where is Remus?" I asked, for that was one of the questions that I had no answer to. "He was shown on the map last night, but he was away, visiting his mother."  
  
"That's where you've been misinformed," Sirius said. "Remus's mother doesn't get sick that often. In truth, Remus's mother has probably never been sick a day in her life. The reason Remus goes away once a month is because he is a werewolf."  
  
"He's a what?" I said.  
  
"A werewolf. He has been since he was a very small child. How old did he say he was, James? Three?" James nodded. "Yes, he tried to hide it from us by saying his mother was sick, but we knew better than that. During Astronomy, we noticed that he was always sick during the full moon. Also, we had sent get-well cards to his mother, and she wrote back saying she wasn't sick, so at the end of first year, we confronted him and he told us everything."  
  
"Okay, that explains one of the things I saw. Tell me about the others," I said.  
  
"Others?" James said, shifting nervously. I didn't understand why he was nervous. Maybe he didn't realize I already knew their secret.  
  
"Yeah, when I looked out the window, according to the Marauder's Map the four of you were standing there, but I didn't see you."  
  
"Oh, that. Well, you see, Lily," James started, "we knew how miserable Remus was when he transformed once a month. We felt the best thing we could do was keep him company while he was in his wolf form."  
  
"And how did you do that? You couldn't very well keep him company while you were humans, now could you?" I think James was becoming hacked off and started thinking that I must have been thick. "Let me remind you, Potter, that I want specific answers, so, I'm asking specific questions. Don't try to lie to me, because I know the truth."  
  
"We became Animagi, Lily; that's how we keep him company," James said.  
  
"I knew it," I said. "It took me a minute to realize with the map and the four of you standing out there. So, which one of you is which?"  
  
"You're - you're not mad at us?" Sirius asked in disbelief.  
  
"Of course I am. I am extremely pissed and this Leg Locker Curse is the only thing that is keeping me from physically hurting you three. So, the only thing I can do is ask questions. How long have you been Animagi?"  
  
"This year is the first year that we have gone off and been able to change with Remus," Sirius said. "But, we have been trying to learn how to do it for three years."  
  
"Three years?" I raged. "You kept that from me for three years?"  
  
"It wasn't easy, Lily," squeaked Peter.   
  
"Oh, like bloody hell it wasn't! What stopped you from telling me? Was it because you didn't want me to become an Animagus too? Remus is one of my best friends and I would have done it for him, despite the fact that it's totally illegal."  
  
"Here comes Miss Righteousness," James muttered.  
  
"Go to hell, Potter!" I shrieked. "All I wanted was the truth. You couldn't give it to me. If you didn't want me to be part of the group, then why didn't you say so three years ago so I wouldn't be here on the floor with my legs bound together and my heart aching? This kind of information would have been useful three years ago. I understand that I'm not a picnic to get along with sometimes, but how could you stoop so low as to pretend to like me?"  
  
"That's not what it was like, Lily," Sirius said.  
  
"Oh, the hell it wasn't," I said. "I thought we were best friends. Well-newsflash-best friends don't go sneaking behind each other's backs." I wiped a tear off of my cheek. "Now take this curse off me."  
  
Sirius looked from James to Peter, then back to me.  
  
"Lily, we didn't want you to get hurt," Sirius started.  
  
"Oh, and I'm not hurting now?" I spat, wiping more tears away. I could tell that seeing me in tears brought James and Sirius distress. Peter looked strange, as if he didn't know what to say or do. "Take this curse off me, damn it!"  
  
"Remus was right, we should have told you way before this," Sirius said with a sigh. "I'm sorry Lily. I want you to know that it was nothing like what you think it was. We didn't want you to get hurt or in trouble with the Animagi training, so we thought that the less we told you, the better. But then it started getting very complicated. I hope one day you can forgive me."  
  
"It'll take some time," I said, wiping my eyes more. "Take this curse off me, I need to go think by myself."  
  
"Finite Incantatem," Sirius said, pointing his wand at me. My legs unlocked themselves and I got up.  
  
"Don't try looking for me this time, guys. I know you mean well, but you only make things worse. Tangara," I said, pointing my wand at myself, and becoming invisible from the Invisibility Charm.  
  
* * *  
  
"Lily," I heard someone whisper.  
  
I opened my eyes groggily and saw Remus standing over me.  
  
"What is it?" I asked.  
  
"Will you come walk with me? I have James's Invisibility Cloak," Remus said.  
  
I looked at the clock on my bedside table. I was three-thirty in the morning. I looked back up at Remus and was about to object, but I saw a light in his eyes begging me to go with him.  
  
"Okay," I said. Remus smiled.  
  
"Great. Where's a dressing gown I can get you?"  
  
"In the closet over there," I said.   
  
Remus is such a gentleman, I thought. Even if I am mad at him. Well, I shouldn't be, it's not exactly his fault, I reminded myself.  
  
"Here you are," Remus said, handing me my dressing robe.  
  
"Thanks," I said, slipping it on.  
  
Remus and I walked out of the portrait hole and slipped the cloak over us.   
  
"Where are we going?" I asked, seeing that Remus was leading me somewhere that I hadn't ever gone.  
  
"Somewhere we can talk." Was all he said.   
  
We didn't speak again for fifteen more minutes. Remus stopped at a portrait with a woman on a horse and said, "Pumpkin Pie." This was obviously the password, for the portrait swung forward to reveal a room that was full of books. But it wasn't like the library; these books were all Muggle classics, I noticed as I looked around: Shakespeare, Hemmingway, C.S. Lewis, Hans Christian Anderson, and many more.  
  
"Remus, where did you find this room?" I asked, still staring around, Remus and I slipping out from under the cloak.  
  
"The Marauder's Map. I think this is one of Dumbledore's rooms. I thought you might like this room because you love to read. But, I didn't bring you in here so you could read. I want to talk to you about what you learned earlier today."  
  
"Well, I learned a lot these past two days. I would have never guessed that that was why you guys were keeping away from me. I thought it was totally my fault. I am still very hurt and upset that you guys would keep it from me."  
  
"I figured that that was how you would feel," Remus said. "I know how it feels to be left out, to not have any friends."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Oh, yes. Before I came to Hogwarts, everybody knew that I was a werewolf. I don't know how they knew. I guess they, like James and Sirius, put two and two together. But I had no friends. That's why I had never told you guys, I was afraid that you would abandon me."  
  
"Oh, Remus, we would never do that."  
  
"I know that. It was kind of a stupid thing to think," Remus said. He looked in to my eyes. His deep brown eyes were pensive and caring. "That's why when we weren't exactly talking to you, I told them to leave you alone. I knew how it felt to be shunned and I told them that you should be let in on the secrets, but they didn't listen to me."  
  
"I understand, though," I said.  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean, Sirius and James aren't my parents, and they can't tell me what to do (and heaven knows they try). But I understand that you guys were concerned for me because so many things can go wrong. I just am upset that you guys kept it from me for three years. And this year I have felt like I lost my best friends. I mean, this morning I was sitting on the cold floor, kidnapped by Sirius, he put the Leg Locker Curse on me, and was playing Twenty Questions with me. It really hurt that you guys didn't tell me."  
  
Remus wrapped his arms around me and embraced me tightly.  
  
"I know it did. I'm sorry, Lily. We don't ever want to leave you in the dark again."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"I promise. Even if James, Sirius, and Peter aren't planning to tell you, I will."  
  
I kissed Remus on the cheek and hugged him again.  
  
"Thanks," I said.  
  
"Are you still mad at James and Sirius?"  
  
"What about Peter?"  
  
"I sense that you don't care for Peter much," Remus said simply.  
  
"Is it that obvious?"  
  
"Not really, but I am a werewolf - I'm not exactly human, so I can tell what people are feeling, it's like a sixth sense."  
  
"Well, I think I will forgive Sirius and James, as long as you do something for me."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Convince Sirius to stop acting like he's my father and to treat me like a woman."  
  
"I could try," Remus said.   
  
"Try? Remus, Sirius is your best friend, I know you can do it."  
  
"All right, consider it done."  
  
I kissed Remus on the cheek again as he threw the cloak over us.  
  
* * *  
  
Friday morning at breakfast, the post owls brought Sirius a copy of the Daily Prophet. He read it for a while, and then he read an article out loud to James, Remus, Peter, and me.  
  
"Hey guys, listen to this," he said.  
  
"'Saturday, December ninth, there was another attack and torture from the infamous wizard who calls himself Voldemort. Voldemort has rapidly gained a name for himself and his notorious followers that call themselves Death Eaters.  
  
"'Saturday afternoon, Ministry of Magic Obliviator Austin Perry was at the Reed home having tea with his Aunt Mattie, Uncle Phillip, and his two cousins, ten-year-old Jeffrey and sixteen-year-old Hannah.'"  
  
At the same moment Sirius had mentioned Perry and the Reeds, I spat out the juice that I had just taken a sip of.  
  
"Is something wrong Lily?" James asked.  
  
"Austin Perry? The Reeds?" I cried.  
  
"Yeah, did you know them?" Sirius asked.  
  
"My dream!" I said. "They were in my dream."  
  
"What dream?" Remus asked.  
  
"Remember, Sirius, I was too hacked off at you to tell you about the dream that made me go into your dorm in the first place? That was what my dream was about. Austin ended up being killed, while Mattie, who was a Squib, and Phillip, who was a Muggle, and Jeffrey was a wizard, and Hannah was all Muggle."  
  
"What are you on about?" James asked.  
  
"My dream," I said again.  
  
Sirius continued reading the paper.  
  
"'Eye witness Hannah Reed claimed Voldemort had come to the door and had asked Perry to join him in his forces. Perry said no, so Voldemort placed the Cruciatus Curse on Mattie Reed.  
  
"'When Perry refused a second time, Voldemort placed the Cruciatus Curse on Phillip Reed.  
  
"'The third time, young Jeffrey Reed, who is planning to attend Hogwarts next year, was placed under the Cruciatus Curse.  
  
"'The fourth, Voldemort took Perry's life.'"  
  
"That man is psycho," James said.  
  
"Yeah, and you didn't dream about him. He looked so happy when he was torturing those people. It was sick," I said.  
  
"Lily, this guys has been around for a while now, but he hasn't killed many people. This is a new thing for him. He's rapidly becoming feared. Some people even call him 'You-Know-Who' because they're afraid that if you say his name, he'll come after you," Sirius said. "When did you have that dream?"  
  
"It was last Friday. Why?"  
  
Sirius's eyes widened and he glanced at Remus, James, and Peter.  
  
"Lily, you had that dream the day before Voldemort attacked those people. Do you realize what that means?"  
  
"That it's really creepy to dream about someone you've never seen?" I teased.  
  
"You had a premonition, Lils."  
  
"I'm awful at Divination, so why would I have a premonition?"  
  
"It's not what you're good at, Lily," James said. "It's just what happens sometimes."  
  
"Oh great, so I practically witnessed the murder too," I said. "I wish we wouldn't have had that fight, then I could have told someone to warn them. Great, now I suffer from premonitions and guilt."  
  
"Lily, it wasn't your fault," James said, in a comforting tone. I was proud of him-he rarely knew how to be a solace.  
  
"I know, but I feel like there was something I could have done. I mean, it's your guys' faults too, because you weren't there when I tried to find you."  
  
"That's right," Sirius said. "But, that doesn't matter. It was nobody's fault. Once someone has a premonition, there is nothing you can do to change the future."  
  
"I see," I said. "I'm sorry I got juice all over the place," I added.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Remus.  
  
"You know, I'm glad we made up. Or, really, I'm glad I decided to forgive you," I said.  
  
"Not as glad as we are," said Sirius. "But, not as glad as we are that Christmas holiday starts after today."  
  
"Here, here," said Remus.  
  
"What would I do without you four?" I said. "You always seem to cheer me up."  
  
"You'd have killed yourself or probably would have been better off," Sirius said.  
  
"Nice thought, Sirius. And would being better off uncorrupted come before, or after I drown myself in the lake?"  
  
"Who said anything about being uncorrupted? Let's just enjoy this moment together." He put his arm around my shoulder in a brotherly fashion.  
  
* * *  
  
"So, Miss Evans," said a weary-looking Professor Dumbledore, "you had a dream about the notorious Dark Lord, Voldemort?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
I was sitting in Professor Dumbledore's office, having been compelled by my friends that I should tell the headmaster of my dream.  
  
"And this dream occurred last week on Friday, the day before the attacks?"  
  
I nodded again.  
  
"Sir, I don't quiet understand why I had the premonition and not Professor Trelawney or someone else who's good at Divination."  
  
"I don't understand either, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said with a small sigh.   
  
"I don't know a lot about these kind of things, Sir," I said.  
  
"Nor do I," Dumbledore said, with a benign smile on I face.  
  
Dumbledore stood up and paced his behind his desk. I looked at him thoroughly, from his many feet of silver hair and beard to his sweeping royal purple robes, to his pointed, elf-like shoes.  
  
"Did someone want me to have the premonition? I mean, is that possible?" I asked. "Could Voldemort or one of his supporters have wanted me to See something?"  
  
"I don't know," Dumbledore said, sitting down at his desk again. "It's hard to know when someone would have had to send you the images. Now that you bring that up, we can't rule out the possibility that one of the Dark Lord's supporters had the Sight and that he wanted you to get an image of what he was capable of. But, the question that remains is, why you in particular?"  
  
I was shocked. After four years, I had grown accustom to the fact that Dumbldore had an answer for everything.  
  
"Should I be worried?" I asked.  
  
"No, no," he said, waving his hand jovially. "Maybe you did just have a premonition. I don't think Voldemort would want to send you anything, for he doesn't deal well with Muggle-borns."  
  
"That's what I thought, too," I said. "I don't think I should be worried. I think that, for once, Professor Trelawney will be happy with me."  
  
Dumbledore smiled, his azure eyes twinkling.  
  
"I'm sure she will," he said with finality in his tone. "Have a good Christmas holiday, Miss Evans."  
  
"Merry Christmas," I replied as I stepped out of Dumbledore's office and was carried be the moving spiral staircase to the hidden door.  
  
I walked back up to Gryffindor tower, thinking about what I was going to do over Christmas hols, when Sirius ran up to me.  
  
"It's finally here," he cried. "Christmas hols is finally here!"  
  
"Yeah, and Christmas is a week away," I said. "What'd you get me?"  
  
"Like I'm going to tell you that," Sirius said.  
  
"I bet I can guess," I said in a singsong voice.  
  
"I bet you can't," Sirius said, copying my singsong tone.  
  
"Let's see," I said. "First year you gave me a book. Second year you gave me an eagle feather quill. Third year you got me that Muggle eight track of the band Led Zeppelin. And last year you gave me a basket of chocolates from Honeydukes. So this year I predict," I said, closing my eyes and putting my hands on my temples, "you're going to give me a pair of earrings."  
  
Sirius stopped in his tracks.  
  
"Damn," he said. "How'd you know?"  
  
I smiled at him.  
  
"Sirius, you have gotten too predictable. I love you all the same, but I know you like I know the back of my hand."  
  
"Isn't the expression 'I know you like I know my wand'?"  
  
"Muggle expression, dear."  
  
We walked the rest of the way in silence.  
  
"Well," Sirius said, once we were inside the common room. "I'm going to go get James's Invisibility Cloak. Looks like I have another visit to Hogsmead to attend to. And just you wait until Christmas morning, Lily Evans, because the gift I am going to give you will make you rethink your theory of my being so predictable."  
  
I shrugged and sat down by the fire with a book in my hands. Minutes later, Sirius came back down, holding the silvery Invisibility Cloak.  
  
"Goodbye, Lils, I'll be back in a couple hours," Sirius said, walking towards the portrait hole.  
  
"Goodbye, Sirius. Oh, and," I said. He turned and looked at me. "Don't get me lingerie and make up for it as being unpredictable."  
  
"Damn," he said, whirling around and stepping through the portrait hole.  
  
I chuckled and returned to my book I was starting to read.  
  
"What was that all about?" I heard James say. He was walking down the staircase to the boys' dormitories. "Is there something going on between you and Sirius? I distinctly heard you say something about lingerie."  
  
"Oh, yes James," I said in a melodramatic voice, "Sirius and I are not only soul mates, but we're hardcore, passionate lovers."  
  
"After five years, we've corrupted your mind," James said, shaking his head. "Have you seen Remus?"  
  
"Nope, sorry," I said. "Why?"  
  
James hesitated.  
  
"Well, we were supposed to start planning next month when Remus is...you know."  
  
"Oh," I said. "Well, Sirius went off to Hogsmead if he didn't tell you already. Supposedly I guessed the Christmas gift that he was going to give me, so he was going back to Hogsmead to get me something different. I saw Remus before I met with Dumbledore. Remus said that he had a few things to do before he came back. Which reminds me, Remus looked really ill. More ill than usual. Or is it that I have let the times slip and the full moon is sooner than I think?"  
  
"Well, I've noticed that too," said James, finally sitting down in a squashy armchair next to me. "He hasn't slept well either. He starts talking in his sleep and tossing and turning. I don't know if it only wakes me, or if everybody is awake and nobody says anything to him. The first night I told him that he was talking in his sleep, he couldn't remember anything."  
  
"Well, try listening to the words that he says. Then we might be able to find out what his dreams are about."  
  
James looked at me with a troubled expression.  
  
"You want me to listen to Remus's talking in the middle of the night?"  
  
"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?"  
  
"Well, one thing that I can make out of what he says is 'Lily, Lily'. Then he mumbles some words. What if this dream is the kind of thing that I don't want to hear?"  
  
"Oh, James," I said. "Don't be ridiculous. Remus doesn't like me like that."  
  
"That doesn't mean he can't have dreams about you like that," James said, arching an eyebrow."  
  
"Anyway," I said, blushing slightly. "What else can you make out from his talking?"  
  
"Well, he always says something like 'Hold me more' which then made me think that he was having those kind of dreams about you. But when I listen closely, he says 'Don't let hold me more take Lily, Lily'."  
  
"What does that mean? Whatever he said made absolute no sense."  
  
"You're telling me. And I listen to it almost every night."  
  
"Don't worry about it, if he ever wakes you up and you can't sleep, you can wake me up anytime," I said, turning back to my book. James just sat there, staring out the window.  
  
"Hey guys, what's up?"  
  
I looked up from my book to the portrait hole. Remus was walking towards us.  
  
"Hey, Remus," I said.  
  
"Where've you been, mate?" James exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, I had to see Professor Trelawney for a few. I think she knows about...me. She keeps on insisting that I'm not going to be with you for much longer. What a loony old bat. Anyway," Remus said, looking around. "Where's Sirius?"  
  
"Sirius went to Hogsmead to get me some lingerie for Christmas."  
  
"What?" Remus asked, his eyes widening.  
  
"He's going into this thing where he thinks he's unpredictable. I mean, I guessed what he got me for Christmas, and he practically told me that I was right. So he said that he was going back to Hogsmead to get me something that was unpredictable. Well, I know how Sirius's mind works. He was going back to Hogsmead to get me lingerie for Christmas as a joke and pass it off as unpredictable."  
  
"And he told you this?" Remus asked.  
  
"No, not really. I told him not to get me lingerie and he just stalked out of here. He's too predictable, that man. You would think that I've known him forever."  
  
"Well, you have known all of us for the better years of our lives," said James. "I've known Sirius since the day I was born, mind you, he's a month and a half older than me."  
  
I looked around the empty common room. Everybody had gone home for Christmas holiday save James, Sirius, Remus, and I were the only ones from Gryffindor that had decided to stay. Peter went home to visit his family. As much as I wanted to go home, my parents were off to Hawaii. Petty had to stay at school over Christmas hols too.  
  
"I'm so glad that we don't have homework," said James.  
  
"Yeah, but you should be studying for the O.W.L.s," I replied.  
  
"Lily, it's Christmas," James replied in a don't-bother-me-with-such-petty-things tone. "What are we going to do with this rather large common room all to ourselves?"  
  
"Mm, we could practice dueling," Remus replied.  
  
"Yeah, that could be a good idea," James said. "You know what? I think I'm going to find a new secret passage way, or something, keep me from going out of my mind."  
  
"I'll go with you," Remus said. "You want to come, Lily?"  
  
"No thanks," I replied. "I think I will read for a few minutes. Then I'll probably send some owls or something. Have fun, and don't let Filch catch you this time."  
  
"No worries, Lily," James said. "We're the best at not getting caught."  
  
I watched as James and Remus strode out of the common room.  
  
* * *  
  
A few hours later, as I was studying for the O.W.L.s, Sirius came back into the common room, looking flushed from the cold. I jumped up, ran over to him, and threw my arms around him.  
  
"Sirius!" I exclaimed. "I was so worried about you. It's after midnight."  
  
"I'm okay Lils," he assured me. "Where're James and Remus?"  
  
"They're getting ready for bed. I was so worried! You were gone for four hours!"  
  
"Yeah, well, you're extremely hard to shop for," he teased. "Actually, the walk there is about an hour, so I spent two hours in Hogsmead."  
  
"What were you doing there for so long?" I asked.  
  
"Christmas shopping, what else would I have done?"  
  
"I don't know, but you really had me worried."  
  
"I'm sorry, Lils," he said, kissing my cheek.  
  
"Sirius, you sly dog," James said.   
  
I let go of Sirius and turned to James, who was walking down the staircase in only his pajama bottoms. I felt a strong physical desire to wrap my arms around him and never let him go.  
  
"Jamesie-boy," Sirius said, "don't you know that that's what I am? I'm a sly dog. Literally, too."  
  
"Whatever," James glanced at me and did a double take. I was a bit confused at what he started for. I looked down at myself.  
  
I was wearing a silk, spaghetti-strapped nightgown that modestly flowed down to my knees and clung to my curves. It was a rather warm in the castle for a December night and I was sitting by the fire, so I didn't feel like putting on a dressing gown. Besides, James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius had seen me in my pajamas before.  
  
James stared for a good thirty seconds until Sirius leaned towards James and said, "Get a good look, James, because you're more than likely never going to see that again."  
  
James flushed bright red; I could feel my cheeks going pink.  
  
"Going to bed now. Goodnight," I said.   
  
I turned around and walked briskly up to my dormitory.  
  
I shut the door and leaned against it.  
  
"Okay, Lily, this isn't the time or the place," I said to myself out loud.   
  
I don't get it. He ignores me for four years and suddenly decides now that he going to be giving me looks? Not going to happen. No, no, no. I have Howard and he has Britannia.  
  
Although it did feel kind of good to see him eyeing me like that. And the chest and abs he has. Oh!  
  
"Urgh! Stop that," I scolded myself as I extinguished the lamps and crawled into bed.   
  
That night, I couldn't get James to stop running through my mind. His bare chest, the way he looked at me, the way he blushed and quickly turned his head with a nervous smile on his lips. Every time I tried to push thoughts of James out of my head, new thoughts would pop right back in.  
  
* * *  
  
Voices woke me.  
  
I could see pale light flowing through the window, which meant it was a little before dawn.  
  
"Should we tell her?"  
  
"It would only frighten her if she new the truth."  
  
"Then we'll tell her a half-truth."  
  
"Guys, were not going to lie to her."  
  
Silence.  
  
The voices were coming from right outside my dormitory door. My ears strained to hear more.  
  
"Sirius, it wouldn't be lying to her, we'd only tell half of what we know."  
  
"That's not right, I think we should tell her everything."  
  
"Well, if that's what you want to do, Remus, you go right on ahead."  
  
"Then I will."  
  
I closed my eyes and pretended to be sleeping.  
  
I felt someone kneel on my bed a hand rub my arm.  
  
"Lily," Remus said. "Lily, wake up, we have something we need to tell you."  
  
I opened my eyes and sat up.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked, running a hand through my auburn hair.  
  
"Remember when I was telling you about the dreams Remus has been having?" James asked. I nodded. "Well, last night, Remus had it again. Except this time, he said tings a little more clearly, or I listened more carefully."  
  
I looked at Remus.  
  
"I don't remember any of it," he said with a shrug.  
  
"He distinctly said 'Don't let Voldemort get Lily'." James said.  
  
"Why would Voldemort want to get me?" I said. "It's not like he wants to recruit me or that kind of thing, I'm a Muggle-born. Right now, they say he's working on Muggles and wizards that won't join him. I think I'm pretty safe."  
  
"I dunno," Sirius said. "Lils, I think you should at least try to be careful, and don't go anywhere outside of the castle without someone being with you."  
  
"Sirius, I'm not five years old, I can take care of myself."  
  
"Lily, this is Voldemort we're talking about. It's not the best idea," Remus said.  
  
"Well, I still don't think I have anything to worry about, especially with you three with me," I said, seeing the pained look in the three pairs of eyes.  
  
"Thank you, Lily," James said. "That means a lot to us. More than you know. Since you've grown up in the Muggle world, you have no idea how awful it can be for witches and wizards in the Dark Times."  
  
"Have you heard of the Holocaust?" I asked. Sirius and James looked slightly confused.  
  
"That was one of the worst things that had ever happened during World War II," Remus said quietly. I nodded. "What Muggles can do to each other is far worse than what wizards can do to each other."  
  
There was silence for a few moments when I heard a tapping noise.  
  
"What's that?" asked James.  
  
"I think it's coming from the window," Sirius said.  
  
I looked out the window and saw a gray owl perched on the window ledge.  
  
"Oh, it's a post owl," I said, getting up and walking towards the window. "It's a little early for the post, though, isn't it?"  
  
I opened the window and the owl fluttered in over to James.  
  
"For me?" James asked it. The owl hooted an obvious yes. "Thank you."   
  
James took the letter off its leg and the owl took off out the window again.  
  
"Hey, it's from Brit," exclaimed James. He started reading the letter with excitement, but soon, that excitement died away and sadness and anger filled his eyes.  
  
He passed the letter to Sirius and looked up, his face ashen.  
  
"She - she wants to - to break up with me," James said quietly.  
  
  
A/N: hope you enjoyed. James is looking at Lily in a new light. Hmm...what's that all about? Find out in the next chapter of Free Falling! **Be a responsible reader and write a review!** 


	4. Christmas Holiday

Disclaimer: As we all know...I wasn't brilliant enough to come up with the Harry Potter series and everything that goes along with it, so all of the characters and places belong to J.K. Rowling and whoever else. All the characters/places that you don't recognize, belong to me unless otherwise stated.  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Four  
Christmas Holiday  
  
  
  
"I-I can't believe it," James spluttered. "What went wrong? Only the other night she was telling me that she loved me and I was the only one for her."  
  
Sirius passed Britannia's letter to me and put his hand on James' shoulder.  
  
I read the note.  
  
  
Dear James,  
  
I hope you are having a good holiday and I want you to know that everything is fine here while I'm visiting my aunts in America. New York City is absolutely gorgeous.  
  
James, I need to tell you, before it gets to late, that I don't think we should see each other anymore. I feel that we are going separate ways in this relationship. I hope you understand.  
  
Happy Holidays!  
  
Britannia Watson  
  
  
  
I looked back up at James, who's big, black eyes were shining with what might have been tears.  
  
"James," Remus said, "I think we should go now. We'll let Lily get some more sleep."  
  
James nodded.  
  
"I'm sorry, James," I said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"Sometimes things work out all for the best," Sirius said.  
  
James, Remus, and Sirius left my dormitory.  
  
Why did Britannia break up with James? Was it because she was using him as a trophy boyfriend? I mean, James was the star Chaser on the Quidditch team, and he was very smart and popular. He was rich and ruggedly handsome.  
  
But the way Britannia and James were together was the last thing that made you think of relationships ending in broken hearts. They were snuggly close and they got along great. He treated her well and was sweet. She thought his jokes were funny and that he was the apple of the universe. Everyone was jealous of the relationship they had had.  
  
Everyone. Even me.  
  
* * *  
  
"Christmas is tomorrow," Sirius sung out. "Christmas is tomorrow."  
  
James sighed.  
  
"For Christmas, I was going to give Britannia those cute little bracelets that she said she always wanted," he said in a heavy tone.  
  
I looked sternly over at James, but he didn't see my gaze.  
  
"Yes, well, I am happy that this year's Christmas doesn't fall over a full moon like it did last year. It was utterly horrid having to spend Christmas in the Shrieking Shack all by myself," Remus said.  
  
"Yeah, I know how that is," James said. We eyed him in confusion. "I mean, I know how it is to spend Christmas alone."  
  
"Don't be a prat James," I raged. I was so sick and tired of hearing James pine for the last week that I wanted to beat him over the head with a Beater's club. "You aren't spending Christmas alone. You have Sirius and Remus and me."  
  
"Yes, but I want someone to share it with."  
  
"James, shut up for ten seconds and listen to us," Remus said. "Just because Britannia left you, doesn't mean that the whole world is coming to an end. There are other fish in the sea."  
  
"Britannia was my fish in the sea, and the only one of her kind," James said.  
  
"Oh, fine," Remus said, apparently hacked off, which wasn't like Remus. "I'm going to the library."  
  
Remus got up, crossed the common room and went through the portrait hole.  
  
"Britannia and I used to go to the library for snog sessions," James said glumly.  
  
I glanced at Sirius, who also looked like he was becoming hacked off.  
  
"James, let's have a game of Exploding Snap, shall we?"  
  
"Brit loved Exploding Snap," James replied. "I'll never find another like her."  
  
I was seeing red.  
  
Why couldn't he get over Britannia. This wasn't like him.  
  
"I'm going to send a few owls," I said, swiftly standing up and planning to go to the owlery to send Howard a letter and to let off some steam that had been built up.  
  
"Why?" Sirius said.  
  
"Because I can't stand to sit here and listen to James bleeding reminisce of Britannia," I almost shouted. I was losing it.   
  
"What?" James said, looking at me for the first time in moments. "Don't you care?"  
  
"Oh, sod off, James Alan Potter," I screeched.  
  
"What the hell's your problem?" James asked.  
  
"If you don't know then I'm not going to tell you," I spat.  
  
I stormed out of the portrait hole and sat near down next to the Fat Lady's portrait.  
  
"What the hell is her problem?" I heard James' muffled voice say.  
  
"Like she said, James, if you don't know then I'm not going to tell you," Sirius replied.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Open your pretty black eyes, James," Sirius shouted. "Maybe it means that you shouldn't be pining over somebody like Britannia. Maybe it means that you can't live your life feeling sorry for yourself. Maybe it means that you should take a good look around you to see if you can see something that all of us have known what was better for you all along."  
  
"I loved Britannia," James shouted.  
  
"No you didn't. You were infatuated. Fickle. You only wanted her because she has a nice ass and her lips work wonders for the mind. James, she didn't love you. You were her trophy. Her prize. You're always the one who wins us the points at Quidditch matches. You're smart, you're popular, and you're the best looking in our year. Hell, you're probably the best looking in the whole school. You want to know why Lily's pissed? Because she knows you. She knows that you're wasting your time bitching and moaning over Britannia."  
  
There was silence. I could feel my face burning. I knew Sirius knew that I was taken with James, but I hadn't ever said anything to anyone other than my mother. Now Sirius was practically telling James to look at what had been right in front of him all along.  
  
I decided to leave it at that and I made my way up to the owlery.  
  
When I arrived, I took out some parchment, scribbled a quick note to Howard, who was visiting his family in London, and sent the note off with Ruffles.  
  
I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes.  
  
Why can't James only see me? I thought. Why is he pining over something that wasn't good for him? He now understands how I felt for four years. I felt like there was no other like him. He knew I liked him for four years, but he never acknowledged it. Why?  
  
I stood up, wiping tears from my eyes. It was a ridiculous reason to cry, but I felt I needed to get four years worth of aching out of my heart.  
  
I stood up and walked out of the owlery, avoiding commonly taken routes as not to let people see my eyes all red.  
  
"Lily?"   
  
I looked up from my gaze on the floor. James was standing five feet away from me, looking grave. I turned my head quickly, I had been crying over him, all the more reason to do so.  
  
"What?" I said.  
  
"Could I - uh - talk to you?" he asked. There was a hint of nervousness in his tone.  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Great."  
  
James grabbed my hand and pulled me towards an empty classroom.  
  
"What are we doing in here?" I asked.  
  
"I want to talk to you. I don't want to do it in front of the whole school."  
  
I shrugged.  
  
"Start talking."  
  
James looked at the floor.  
  
"I know you're mad at me because I keep complaining about Britannia," he said.  
  
"Darn right I am."  
  
"But the truth is," he continued, ignoring my comment, "I didn't realize that the thing we had was all just a look-at-what-I-have kind of relationship. I was so caught up in myself that I didn't realize what was right in front of my face." He looked up at me.  
  
"What are you saying?" I asked.  
  
"You were there the whole time, Lily," he said. "You stuck by my side when times were good and bad. Not like Britannia, where, when we lost a Quidditch match, she would avoid me for a week. I've been thick, Lily. Very stupid. I saw only what I wanted to see. I needed to open my eyes and see what was good for me." He stared deeply into me eyes. I saw a glint of hope come into his black eyes. "What I'm trying to say, Lily, is, will you forgive me? Would you take me after what I've done?"  
  
I stared back into his eyes, my heart melting at him admitting he was wrong, which he hardly ever did.   
  
"I'm sorry," I replied. I knew I had wanted him for four years, but it was his turn to suffer. Besides there was Howard, who was very cute and thoughtful. I couldn't just break his heart. Could I?  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm sorry," I repeated. "I can forgive you, but nothing more. Did you really think that I would wait around any longer for you to notice that I was there? I did wait four years, but now I've seen that you want to live in your fantasy world with the pretend love for Britannia. I've got somebody now and my loyalties are to him. I've avoided other guys for four years, James, all because of you. I really don't think that a relationship between us would be a good idea."  
  
James' eyes showed understanding. Understanding and hurt. He lowered his head and turned around.  
  
"Well, I thought it might be a good idea to apologize to you," he mumbled as he headed towards the door.  
  
I watched him with a now breaking heart. I had hurt him.  
  
But he hurt you for four years straight, I thought.   
  
That's still not right, said another voice in the back of my head. You can't deny the feelings in your heart. If you waited for four years, you must really love him.  
  
I felt tears well in my eyes. James had reached the door.   
  
"Wait," I called, before I even realized what I was doing. My stomach flip-flopped as James slowly turned around and looked up at me.  
  
I strode over to James. When I reached him, I hesitated at what to do next. James must have noticed, because, before I knew it, he had his lips pressed against mine.  
  
I threw my arms around him and melted into the kiss. It was wonderful. Four years worth of passion, hurt, and anger seemed to be released. James wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. My fingers went up to his hair and started twisting the unruly strands with my forefinger.  
  
James pulled away suddenly.  
  
"What about Howard?" he questioned, still not letting me go.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Howard. Your boyfriend."  
  
"Oh, Howard," I replied, glancing at the floor then back at James. "James, you know what I said wasn't true, right? I mean, I don't love Howard. I was only saying that because I was upset…"  
  
"Because I've been too much of a stupid prat to even notice you?" James finished.  
  
"You might say that," I purred.  
  
"Well, it's true," he said. "Sirius, Remus, and Peter were always letting around hints, and when I didn't get them, they'd blow up at me. I guess they knew that how you felt about me and I kept blowing you off." He kissed me again. "So, were you really waiting around for me for four years?"  
  
"Why yes, Mr. Potter. I was really waiting four years. I guess I was being a stupid prat for even thinking that you would notice me."  
  
"But, in the long run, I was being the stupid one for not noticing you."  
  
"We'll call it a draw," I said. "Now shut up and kiss me again."  
  
* * *  
  
After a few more minutes or so of senseless snogging, James and I walked back to Gryffindor tower hand-in hand.  
  
"What do you think Sirius and Remus will say?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, they'll probably say something like 'I told you so'," James replied with a smile. "Well, Miss Evans, what I'd like to know is what we are going to tell them."  
  
"Tsk tsk, Mr. Potter," I teased. "They're your best friends, I thought you'd know what to tell them. I'm guessing, with how long we've been gone, that we don't need to tell them anything, they'd have guessed everything by now."  
  
"I bet you're right," James agreed. "Christmas Spirit," he said, which was the password, once we had reached the Fat Lady.  
  
The Fat Lady swung open and James playfully bowed me in.  
  
"After you, mademoiselle," he said. I giggled and stepped through the hole. James followed.  
  
When I looked around the common room, my breath was taken away.  
  
"Wow," James gasped.  
  
Inside the common room was dimly lit with red candles that were enchanted to float. The fire in the grate was softly crackling and let off a scent that smelled like roses.  
  
"It's beautiful," I said.   
  
"Sirius must have done it," James said. "I don't know why."  
  
"I think it's very nice of him to do that. Besides, it's makes a really romantic atmosphere."  
  
"What are you saying?" James asked, pulling me towards an armchair by the fire and situating me on his lap once he sat down.  
  
"Oh, nothing," I said quickly. "I just never thought of Sirius as romantic."   
  
"But you love him?"  
  
"My love for him is like the scar on my elbow: Ugly, but permanent."  
  
James laughed.  
  
"So, it's more like brotherly love?" I nodded. "Did you ever love me like a brother?"  
  
"If I ever had then I wouldn't ever kiss you. That would kind of gross me out."  
  
"Yeah, I would think so, too." A sly smile pulled over his lips. "I'm glad you don't think of me as your brother, because kissing you is a lot of fun."  
  
He leaned up and kissed me again.  
  
After a few more minutes of senseless snogging, the grandfather clock on the other side of the common room struck midnight. There was a sound of rushing footsteps, and Sirius leapt from the stairs, ran over to us, and jumped right on top of us.  
  
"It's Christmas, it's Christmas," he cried.  
  
"Sirius," James gasped, "oxygen has become an issue."  
  
Sirius ignored James and kissed me on the cheek.  
  
"Merry Christmas, Lils," he said.  
  
"Merry Christmas to you too," I replied. "Now, get off of us."  
  
Sirius reluctantly climbed off. I got off of James' lap and sat on the floor next to the fire. The dancing orange and yellow flames warmed me all over.  
  
"Sirius, technically, it's not Christmas," I said. "I mean, we haven't gone to sleep yet and we haven't waken up to Christmas morning."  
  
"Lils, if you want to speak technically, midnight starts Christmas morning. Besides, I took a nap, so, I did wake up Christmas morning. Now let's open presents!"  
  
"You sound like you're five years old, Sirius," James muttered.  
  
"What? I thought I was five," Sirius replied with a cheesy grin. "Don't you guys want to open your presents?"  
  
"Where's Remus?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, he's out like a light. You know him, he doesn't do well with all-nighters," Sirius said, shrugging. "I'll go wake him up anyway.  
  
"Ugly, but permanent," I sighed as Sirius rushed excitedly up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.  
  
James and I sat in silence.   
  
James stared off into the fire, and guess where my eyes went: Right to James.  
  
He was so ruggedly handsome. His unruly midnight-black hair, his wiry-framed glasses making him look smart and sophisticated. I was about to tell him how adorable I thought he looked at the moment, but was interrupted by a loud bang!  
  
James and I glanced at each other quizzically, we both jumped up, and raced towards the fifth year boys' dormitory.  
  
Upon entering, we found a confused looking Sirius sprawled on the floor and a wide-eyed Remus up and looking around frantically.  
  
"What was that noise?" James asked.  
  
Remus' eyes landed on James, shifted to Sirius, then went back on the James.  
  
"The idiot over the there scared the shit out of me," Remus said, annoyed.  
  
"What the hell did I do?" Sirius asked, getting up off of the floor.  
  
"Yeah, what the hell did you do?" James asked.  
  
"The bleeding idiot licked me," Remus raged.  
  
"He what?" I asked. I didn't think that sounded right.  
  
"Well, Moony here," Sirius said, "wouldn't wake up, so I changed into my dog form and jumped on his bed. When that didn't work, I resorted to extreme measures."  
  
"You licked him?" James asked.  
  
"It's not like it was fun," Sirius protested.  
  
"What was that bang we heard?" I asked.  
  
"Well, if you woke up with your face all wet and a massive dog standing over you, you'd use self-defense mechanisms too," Remus said.  
  
"He pushed me off the bed," Sirius said, seeing the confused look on James' face. "Well," Sirius said, a smile widening on his face, "since were all up now, let's open our presents."  
  
"Okay, okay," I said. "Are you sure you're not fifteen going on five?"  
  
Sirius produced four packages from under his bed and handed them to James, Remus and I.  
  
My present was very neatly wrapped in red and gold paper with silver hearts that moved in circles.   
  
I carefully started opening the package.  
  
"Oh, Sirius," I exclaimed. "This is wonderful."  
  
Inside was a photo album with a picture of James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I on the front. It was the Muggle picture that my mother had taken at Kings Cross Station at the beginning of our fourth year.  
  
"It's all of the pictures of us and there are quite a few of you and James together," Sirius said, as I looked through the book.  
  
I saw many wizard pictures of the five of us wave up at me when I looked upon them.  
  
There was Sirius and James zooming around on broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch. There was a picture of James and I studying by the fire. There was even a Muggle picture of me sleeping in my bed at home.  
  
"The Muggle photos were sent to me by your mother," Sirius said, when I gave him a questioning look. "I asked her to send some extra photos for the photo album, and she said that that's one of her favorite pictures of you."  
  
"Sirius, this is so..."   
  
"Unpredictable?" Sirius put in. "Did I finally claim the title of unpredictable?"  
  
"I was going to say thoughtful," I said, grinning and giving Sirius a hug and kissing him on the cheek.   
  
"Not unpredictable?" Sirius pouted.  
  
"Oh, all right, this really was unpredictable," I said. Sirius smiled wide.  
  
The rest of that morning was wonderful. We had all exchanged gifts. I got a Muggle book with the great works of Shakespeare from Remus.  
  
But nothing from James.  
  
"What did Prongsie get Lils?" Sirius asked in an annoying tone once he noticed that James didn't get me anything.  
  
James flushed.  
  
"Well," he said, "I did get her something, but that was before this relationship came about. So, if you don't mind Lily, I'll have to get you something else and have it be late."  
  
"Oh, James," I said, "you don't have to do that."  
  
"For you Lily, it's worth it," James replied, kissing the top of my head.  
  
"Well," Remus said, "I'm all funned out, not to mention tired, so I'm going back to sleep."  
  
"Me too," I said.  
  
"Me three," James said.  
  
"Goodnight," I replied. I kissed James again and left the boys' dormitory to go to mine.  
  
* * *  
  
That night, I wrote Howard a letter.  
  
* * *  
  
"Lily," I heard someone hiss. "Lily, wake up."  
  
I opened my eyes to see James sitting on my bed.  
  
"What are you doing here?" I said groggily, rubbing my eyes.  
  
It was three days after Christmas, probably about one o'clock in the morning.  
  
"I've got your Christmas present," he said.  
  
He pulled a small, blue wrapped box from behind his back. He handed it to me, and I sat up.  
  
"You know you didn't have to do this," I said.  
  
"Well, it's to make up for all the times I've been a stupid prat. Besides, I really care for you. Deep down inside, I always had, but now, I realize what those feelings meant. I love you, Lily."  
  
"Has Mr. Potter gone soft on me?" I teased. I kissed him on the cheek and started unwrapping the present.  
  
Inside was a red velvet box. My eyes widened...what else comes in velvet boxes?  
  
I opened the velvet box to reveal a beautiful bracelet with the inscription "Never Let You Go" carved in the middle. At the beginning and end of the inscription, there was a ruby and an emerald inlaid in the silver.  
  
I looked up at James with shining eyes. This was the sweetest gift anybody had ever given me.  
  
"I just thought you'd like to know that now that I've found you, I've found myself, and I don't want to lose you. If I lost you, it'd be like losing myself. I can't let that happen." James blushed a little. "I really do love you, Lily."  
  
"I love you too, James," I said, throwing my arms around him in a hug. After I pulled away, I leaned over and grabbed the present that I had for James from out of my bedside table drawer.  
  
"What's this?" he questioned. "You already got me a present, remember that book about Quidditch?"   
  
"I know, but I got that for you before we were a couple. This is something that I wanted to get you now that we're officially going out."  
  
James opened the package. There was a black satin box with a silver watch inside.  
  
"Lily, this is beautiful," James said.  
  
"Look at the inside of it," I said.  
  
He turned the watch to the underside and read the inscription that was there. "I Will Love You Forever" it said. It was James' turn to look up at me with shining eyes.  
  
"Oh, Lily," he gasped. "I can't believe it. This is so wonderful. This has been the best Christmas ever."  
  
"For me too," I said. James kissed me on the cheek, hugged me, and then kissed me on the lips.  
  
For the rest of that night, James and I laid on my bed, talking about everything we could think of. I was surprised by how much we had in common. We laughed and joked and talked and snogged.  
  
It was one of the best nights of my life.  
  
* * *  
  
When I woke the next morning, I didn't open my eyes right away, but I could tell that it was almost midday from the way the sunlight flowed through the windows.  
  
I sighed, remembering the night before, and opened my eyes. To my surprise, James was already up and dressed. I had the feeling that he had been watching me sleep.  
  
"'Morning, Sleeping Beauty," James murmured when he saw my eyes open.  
  
"'Morning," I replied. "How long have you been watching me sleep?"  
  
"To the clock, it would be an hour, more or less. But to the love-laden heart, it seemed like an eternity."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be," he said. "Have you ever watched someone you love sleep? It's the most amazing thing to see the innocent look upon their face. To see them smiling at their dreams."  
  
I blushed.  
  
"We'd better be more careful next time we fall asleep together, people might get the wrong idea in their heads," I said. "What would Sirius and Remus say?"  
  
"Oh, they know already, I told them after I got up to get dressed. They seemed a little skeptical, but I don't think they really thought anything like that would happen." He leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Come on, dear, let's go get some breakfast."  
  
* * *  
  
For the rest of the holiday, James, Remus, Sirius, and I hung out together.  
  
Sirius and Remus held a party for James and I on New Year's Eve in the Charms classroom (with permission from McGonagall and Flitwick, of course) with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students that didn't go home for the holiday.  
  
There was plenty of food and butterbeer and music and dancing. The night was perfect. I danced with James as well as Sirius and Remus (who was looking extremely ill, for the full moon would be coming again in a few days) and many other boys from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.  
  
"Everybody listen up!" Sirius said when a song had finished. "It's five minutes to midnight and, in my family, it's a tradition to go around the room and share our New Year's Resolutions. Everybody with me?"  
  
"Yeah!" shouted everyone at the party (which was the four of us from Gryffindor, seven Ravenclaws, and three Hufflepuffs).  
  
"My New Year's Resolution," Sirius said, "is to be a better friend to others outside my Gryffindor group. That and" -he smiled evilly-"play more pranks on Snape!" Everyone laughed and cheered at this.  
  
Then resolutions continued. Remus' was to be nicer to others when he was feeling "ill". That confused some people, for Remus was thought of as the nicest guy in school.  
  
Then it was my turn.  
  
"My New Year's Resolution is" -I thought hard-"to keep up my good marks."  
  
"My New Year's Resolution," said James, turning to me, "is to love you more and more each passing day."  
  
I smiled extensively and hugged James tightly. There were bunches of "aww's" from the crowd.  
  
"That is the best thing that anyone has ever said," I told him, kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"Lily, everyday I wake up and I love you more. I always think that I can't possibly love you more the next day, but I always do. I don't want that to stop. Ever." He kissed me on my lips and there were some more "aww's" from the others.  
  
The resolutions continued; James and I just held each other until everyone started counting down.  
  
"Five...four...three..."  
  
"I love you Lily," James whispered.  
  
"I love you, too," I whispered back.  
  
"Two...one...Happy New Year!" Everyone screamed. Everyone except James and me, for we were too busy giving and receiving our first kisses in the New Year.  
  
  
**Be a resposible reader and write a review!** 


	5. Professor Trelawney's Prediction

Disclaimer: I'll make this short and simple: I own nothing. HP=JKR; MacBeth=Shakespeare. I am also aware that JKR has already used the title "Professor Trelawney's Prediction", but that was the best title for this one--you'll see why....  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Five  
Professor Trelawney's Prediction  
  
  
  
I could barely keep my eyes open during classes Thursday afternoon, two weeks after Christmas holiday. I had had a terrible night before: Tossing and turning, turning and tossing. I had no idea why, either.  
  
Half of me was thinking it was just nerves about classes starting up again, but that had never happened before. I mean, I had never been nervous for me to learn something new. Besides, it had been two weeks since classes started, I had already gone to several classes.  
  
The other half of me seemed to tell me that I was forgetting something. That was ridiculous! I wasn't forgetting something. I was forgetting nothing. I didn't know what it was, but it kept me awake all night long.  
  
"Lily," James had said at breakfast, "you look dead on your feet, go back to sleep until Charms is over, I'll tell Flitwick where you are. I'm sure he'll understand."  
  
"No, no," I had replied. "I can't do that. I have to go."  
  
So I went. And let me tell you that doing magic while you're half asleep is not a good idea.  
  
First of all, in Charms, we were reviewing incantations. Professor Flitwick had asked me to demonstrate the Prediredus Charm (which makes the object you are charming feather-light), but instead of saying "Prediricie" to charm the Charms Master, I had said "Predicurie". Before I realized what I had done, Professor Flitwick was up in violent-purple flames.  
  
I frantically pointed my wand at the Professor and muttered "Aqueous," which made water come out of my wand, but that didn't work. For the life of me, I could not remember the counter spell to the Predicur Charm.  
  
Finally, James grabbed my wand, pointed it at Flitwick, who was lying on the floor screaming, and said "Finite Incantatem". Instantly, the plum inferno disappeared and Professor Flitwick stood up and brushed himself off.  
  
"I am so sorry, Professor," I said quickly. Flitwick, who did not looked burned except his eyebrows were a little singed, looked at me, and, to my extreme surprise, grinned.  
  
"No worries, my dear Miss Evans," he squeaked. "No one I know has ever been able to work that charm properly."  
  
"You mean, I didn't burn you?" I asked, almost in disbelief.  
  
"Of course not. It was a little shocking to see the flames dancing around me, but I felt no pain or heat whatsoever. Except," he added, rubbing his left eyebrow, "it did get a little hot for a minute. But I was shouting the Protection Spell so it wouldn't make me into a living pile of ashes."  
  
I put my head in my hands. I had just lit a teacher on fire and he wasn't going to expel me? This was unbelievable. If it were McGonagall I had set on fire, I would have been on the Hogwarts express right back to Mum, Dad, Petunia, and the Muggle world.  
  
"You mean, you didn't get burned and you're not going to expel her?" I heard Sirius ask.  
  
I glanced at him, sometimes he was such a dumbass. I looked back at Flitwick.  
  
"Professor, I am so sorry. I really am," I said again. "I've had a rough night and I am really tired."  
  
"As I said before," Flitwick said, "don't worry about it. I am just ecstatic that you can do the charm. Now everyone go sit down, I have a lesson to teach."  
  
Everyone, who had all had gotten up during the frenzy, sat back down in their seats with furtive glances at one another. After I sat down, I put my head in my hands again and wanted to disappear right on the spot. In a few hours time, the word that I had lit Professor Flitwick on fire would be spread around the school.  
  
In the meantime, Professor Flitwick went on with his lesson like nothing had even happened.  
  
* * *  
  
James, Sirius, Peter and I trudged up to the North tower for Divination. I dragged my feet the whole way there.  
  
Remus was out sick again, since last night was the night before the full moon and he didn't sleep well either, he stayed up in Gryffindor tower to sleep until he had to go to the Shrieking Shack to transform.  
  
"Lils," Sirius said, stopping and waiting me to catch up with him. "Don't worry about what you did to Flitwick. You saw him, he was pleased that you could work that charm."  
  
"I know," I sighed. "I just feel really bad. I'm so tired. I just don't think I can be awake any longer."  
  
"So sleep through the Old Bat's class," James said, putting his arm around my waist and practically pushing me up the stairs.  
  
"I can't do that!" I exclaimed. "It's very important to get good grades."  
  
"Yeah, but you agree with us when we say she's an old bat, don't you?" Sirius said.  
  
"Well..." I hesitated. "Yes, and I absolutely hate Divination. It's absurd. Ludicrous even."  
  
"You'll never use Divination in your life, so why learn it?" Sirius said. I nodded, which was surprising, since I hardly agreed with Sirius when it came to school. "You just stick to your Arithmancy."   
  
Sitting through Divination was harder than I thought it was. The perfumed fire made me drowsy. The dim lighting made me drowsy. Professor Trelawney's droning on and on about Tarot cards made me drowsy. And being drowsy as I was already, I became even more so and started to nod off.  
  
I was sleeping well, with no dreams, when I heard James whisper, "Lily, wake up."  
  
I opened my eyes drearily and found Professor Trelawney standing over me with her hands on her curvaceous hips.  
  
"My dear, I do believe that you were sleeping in this class, am I not correct?" she said. I put my head down, about to apologize, but I didn't.  
  
"Yes, ma'am," I said instead. "But you see, I was getting an aura from the clairvoyant vibes in the room. I tried listening hard, but it didn't work. So, I put my head down and thought that I might be able to receive it with an empty mind, which means I would have to sleep."  
  
Professor Trelawney's expression softened. So did her tone.  
  
"I completely understand, dear." She said in her mistiest tone. "I, too, am having those auras that tell me I should sleep. Yes, yes, I think we should be done for the day, I need to seek after these clairvoyant vibes with an empty mind like Miss Evans did. Good day, class, good day," she whispered dramatically.  
  
I stared with incredulity at Professor Trelawney as she transfigured her desk into a small bed with cerulean hangings. I had lied to a teacher and had gotten away with it.  
  
Students passing by me to make their way down the staircase patted me on the back.  
  
Sirius, James, Peter, and I just stared at each other.  
  
"If you would like to stay," Professor Trelawney said mistily, "and catch some more clairvoyant vibes, you may do so." With that, she climbed into the diminutive bed and closed the hangings.  
  
We stayed seated at the little table and looked at one another again.  
  
After a few minutes, we got up and started packing our belongings into our bags.  
  
"Potter," came a hoarse whisper from the corner where Trelawney's bed was. "James Potter." We looked at each other and then around the room.  
  
"I think it is coming from Trelawney's bed," Sirius said. He slowly walked over to Professor Trelawney's bed and pulled back the hangings.  
  
Professor Trelawney appeared to be sleeping, but her head was rigid and unmoving. A speckle of drool was running down her cheek.   
  
"Potter," came the hoarse whisper again. It had escaped from Trelawney's lips. "James Potter."  
  
"I-I'm here, Professor," James said rather nervously.  
  
"The Dark Lord...he will...he will come for...you...you will be betrayed by...someone close to you....The Dark Lord will come after you and your heir....You will not...survive...his wrath." James' eyes widened and he swallowed. Professor Trelawney continued in her raucous tone. "Your heir will be the only to survive....The Boy Who Lived...."  
  
Professor Trelawney started shaking madly, then went, well, normal again, as if she was sleeping.  
  
The four of us stood there, just staring at her.  
  
The Professor opened her eyes and started.  
  
"Might I ask what you are all doing watching me sleep?" she asked, angrily, yet mistily. "I'll have you know that that is very rude."  
  
"When?" James asked, a little hoarsely.  
  
"It's rude all of the time," Professor Trelawney replied.  
  
"No, I mean, when is the Dark Lord coming after me?" James said.  
  
"What are you talking about?" she asked, with wide eyes.  
  
"Professor, you just said that the Dark Lord would come after me and my heir," James said. "When will it happen?"  
  
"I said no such thing. I was sleeping. Now, I suggest you all leave before I have to call the Headmaster in."  
  
"But," James started.  
  
"No buts, Potter. I said no such thing! To think that I would do such a thing!" She let out a derisive laugh. "Now, leave me."  
  
James, Sirius, Peter, and I left the room with wide eyes. I couldn't believe that Professor Trelawney would predict such a thing. And then to deny that she predicted such a thing was even more amazing.  
  
But this was different from all the predictions that she made about Remus and his "illness". This seemed real. And I mean real. Trelawney didn't have her misty voice, and she had her eyes closed. She was convulsing and didn't seem to remember when she returned to her normal self. This was getting stranger by the minute.   
  
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Sirius said.  
  
"No, we shouldn't bother him with such a petty thing like that old bat," James replied, though his voice didn't portray his words.  
  
"James," I said. "You know that was different than normal. After five years, I've learned that different than the usual is not a good thing. We have to tell Dumbledore."  
  
"I know." James sighed. "I'm just afraid of why. I mean, what's the reasoning? There's no reason for Voldemort to come after me. And he's coming after my heir."  
  
"Heir?" Sirius said. "Is there something you and Lily ought to tell us?"  
  
I smiled and playfully hit him. Trust Sirius to joke at a time like this.  
  
"No, there's not," James said. "When I have a child, I will have an heir. So that means that Voldemort won't come after my heir and me until I have an heir. That means I have a while before he comes."  
  
"Unless an accident happens," Sirius teased.  
  
James ignored him and continued.  
  
"But, what I want to know is why Voldemort wants to come after me in the first place."  
  
"I don't think we'll ever know," I said. "But until you have your heir, he won't want you. Why's that?"  
  
"That's another thing I don't understand either. What's the heir got to do with it?" James replied. "And Professor Trelawney never said anything about my heir's mother. What happens to her?"  
  
"That's another thing we'll never figure out," Sirius said. "But, in the meantime, we're going to Dumbledore."  
  
* * *  
  
"So, Professor Trelawney said that she was going to sleep to, er-catch clairvoyant vibes?" I nodded. "And she was asleep for half an hour, more or less?"  
  
"That's right," James said.  
  
"And tell me again what she said in her-er-unusual state."  
  
James and I were in Dumbledore's office. Sirius and Peter went to visit Remus in the Shrieking Shack and tell him about the prediction before he "officially" transformed into his wolf state.  
  
"She said that the Dark Lord would come after my heir and me," James said. "She said that I would not survive, but my heir would. My heir would become The Boy Who Lived."  
  
"The Boy Who Lived?" Dumbledore mused. "I'm not exactly sure what that means, but there has been a whisper from many Seers about a Boy Who Lived, but they never say much. Tell me, what do you know about the Dark Lord?"  
  
"Not much," James replied. "I know he's gaining a name for himself. And I do mean that literally-people now call him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". I also know that he tries to get followers wherever he can. He doesn't like Muggle-borns and finds it amusing to torture Muggles. That's about all."  
  
Dumbledore turned his twinkling, light-blue gaze on me.  
  
"I don't know much about him either," I said. "I know that he's suspected to have about a hundred followers and that he uses the Imperius Curse on some of them. A lot of them he threatens with the life of loved-ones and things like that."  
  
"You both couldn't be more right," Dumbledore said. "He's in his right mind and yet, he's gone quite mad. No one really knows why he does this at all. All I can say for sure is that he wants power. More and more power."  
  
"I still don't understand why he would come after me, though," James said, frustrated. He placed his head in his hands.  
  
"There must be something that happens within the future that will cause him to want your life. But, James, don't blame yourself for whatever happens. Always remember that."  
  
"I know I mustn't," James said, looking back up at Dumbledore. "Why did Professor Trelawney predict something so far into the future? Does she usually predict things with that much advance?"  
  
"Actually," said Dumbledore smiling benignly, "this has been the first real-sounding prediction she has had since she's been here."  
  
"I knew she was an old bat," James said. He then noticed the look on Dumbledore's face: Disagreeing and yet agreeing. "Oh, sorry, Professor."  
  
"Well, if anything more happens, let me know at once," Dumbledore said, smiling again. I knew that this meant the conference was over.  
  
James and I stood up and quietly left Dumbledore's office.  
  
"That was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me," James said after we were back in the hallway traveling to Gryffindor tower. "We've certainly seemed to have a lot of premonitions and predictions coming our way."  
  
"Tell me about it," I said. "But, I don't think a lot of them mean anything. I mean, the one I had was probably a fluke. Sometimes people get lucky or cursed enough to have a premonition once in a while. The thing with Remus was probably just a nightmare."  
  
"I'm not so sure, Lily," James said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "You are still thinking in Muggle-mode-that there's a logical explanation for everything. There's not, Lily. Not everything that happens is going to be because of accidents. There is a reason for everything. A specific reason for something that happens."  
  
I stopped and looked deeply into James' dark eyes.  
  
"Whatever happens, James, I'm here for you. That will never change. And I'm grateful to know that you're here for me too." We kissed and continued walking.  
  
When we reached the Gryffindor common room, Sirius and Peter were talking animatedly about the next Quidditch match, in which Gryffindor would play Ravenclaw.  
  
"What did Dumbledore say?" Sirius asked once he noticed that we had entered Gryffindor tower.  
  
"Not much," James replied glumly. "I just don't know what to do. I mean, it will be a while before I am planning to even think of having an heir, but still. What if that's in ten years? What if it's in three years? I just don't know. For now, I shouldn't worry about it-you can't change the future."  
  
"That's not always true. Maybe in this case it is," Sirius relied. "But, James, I know that it will be a while before something happens to you."  
  
"What about Lily?" James asked.  
  
"I'm right here," I said.  
  
"No, I mean, what happens to you? Are we still an issue. Would we be married by then? Will you survive with my son, The Boy Who Lived?"  
  
"James, we don't even know if I am going to be a part of your life when that happens," I said. "But, like I said, I will always be there for you. There will be nothing that I wouldn't do for you."  
  
"Same here," said Sirius.  
  
"And here," squeaked Peter in his nasally voice.  
  
"And I'm absolutely positive that Remus would too," I said.  
  
"Thanks you guys, you really know how to make me feel better."  
  
"That's what we're here for, mate," said Sirius.  
  
* * *  
  
That night (after a long nap), I was sitting in the common room by the fire reading the book Remus had given me. I was reading Mac Beth for the fifth time when I heard a tapping noise on the window.  
  
I looked out the window and saw a large gray owl that I recognized to be a school owl. The owl fluttered in when I opened the window, dropped a letter and flew right back out. The letter had my name written on it in a cramped scrawl that I knew was James'.  
  
It was the night of a full moon and The Marauders were out having their adventure. But why did James want to see me while he was with his friends?  
  
I opened the letter.  
  
  
  
Dearest Lily,  
  
What would you say to a midnight snog in the library? I would certainly love to meet you there. Please say you'll come and meet me there at a quarter to one.  
  
Love always,  
  
James  
  
  
  
That was peculiar. James didn't even mention anything about Remus or the adventure. There was something weird about his letter. I couldn't put my finger on it, but all the same, James wrote me the letter. So what did I do? Naturally, I went up to my dorm, brushed my teeth, put on some lip-gloss and the perfume James liked, brushed my hair, and left Gryffindor tower, heading towards the Charms classroom.  
  
When I arrived, the classroom was empty, so I thought James probably got caught up with the guys and was going to be late. I conjured some candles, lit them, and charmed them to float to create a romantic atmosphere as Sirius had done during Christmas hols.  
  
I sat down and waited.  
  
After ten minutes, I was nodding off on the desk when I felt a cold shiver go up and down my body. I looked up quickly to find no one there.  
  
"James," I said. "Is that you?"   
  
No answer.  
  
"James, this isn't funny. I will be pissed off to no end if you are trying to play a trick on me."  
  
Still no answer. I looked around more, but there was nothing in sight.   
  
"You're losing it," I told myself aloud. I put my head back down on the desk.  
  
"Oh no, Lily," I heard a low, familiar voice whisper. I abruptly sat back up. "You're not losing it. You were right when you thought someone was in here, but I'm not James Potter."  
  
"Who-who are you?" I questioned.  
  
The disembodied voice gave hollow laugh.  
  
"My Master's not one to mess with, Lily," it said.   
  
Out of the corner of my eye, two masked figures stepped out of the shadows and grabbed my arms. I screamed. A third one appeared, and before I could scream again, the third one pointed his wand at me and said, "Stupefy!"  
  
Everything went black.  
  
* * *  
  
When I awoke, I didn't open my eyes right away. My head was pounding and I couldn't feel my arms, which must have meant they had fallen asleep.  
  
What a strange dream, I thought. I decided to roll over and go back to sleep, only to find my arms couldn't and wouldn't move.  
  
I finally opened my eyes. I about screamed when I realized where I was. The funny thing was, though, that I didn't recognize where I was. I looked around me.   
  
I was lying on a bed with thick, green, velvet hangings in a dimly lit room. There was a fire roaring gloomily in a fireplace to my left. I looked up to find my hands were bound to the posts of the bed with skillfully knotted rope. I looked down to find my feet were bound to the posts also.  
  
There were several pictures of serpents on the walls that slithered and hissed ominously at me when I looked at them. And there was a person in a long, midnight cloak with a mask covering his face.  
  
"Ah," the masked man said. "Miss Lily awakens."  
  
I recognized the voice. It was the same voice that had spoken to me while I was in the Charms classroom. It was also a voice I recognized from my first four years at Hogwarts. The voice that had always sneered "Mudblood" when he saw me walking in the hall. The voice belonged to Lucius Malfoy, who was a former Slytherin and had graduated from Hogwarts the year before.  
  
"The Dark Lord will certainly want to see you," Malfoy said.   
  
He strode across the room to the door and stepped outside of it.  
  
I looked around some more while incessantly thinking, I'm going to die. I'm going to die.  
  
After a few minutes of panged silence, the door opened again and Lucius (or I suspected it to be him) came in, followed by none other than a tall, pleasant-looking wizard with dark hair and unwelcoming eyes that were in resemblance to a snake's.  
  
He could be only one person. And that person was Voldemort.  
  
He walked over to the bed and sat down by my side. He eerily looked me up and down and smiled maliciously when his eyes met the cords that fixed me to the oak posts.  
  
"Leave us, Lucius," he said rather lazily.  
  
"Yes, Master," Lucius said. He bowed, which Voldemort took no notice of, and left the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving me exceedingly frightened and alone with the Dark Lord.  
  
"Lily, Lily, Lily," Voldemort drawled. I stared at him with hatred. "I do hate to see you look at me in such a way. This isn't any more fun for me than it is for you." He paused. "Actually, I'll be getting something out of this, so I guess it will be more fun for me."  
  
"What do you want?" I snarled, pulling at the ties that bound my hands.  
  
"Haven't you heard, Lily?" he drawled, his pale lips pulling into a smile. "There is a prophecy. A prophecy about you that I am rather interested in taking part of."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Well, I guess I should tell you. It would be the decent thing to do. Maybe I won't though, because I hate Muggles greatly."  
  
"I'm not a Muggle," I growled.  
  
"Yes, well, you're very close to," the Dark Lord said. "Oh, yes, that reminds me, did you receive the premonition? I had a true Seer psychically send it to you. I rather liked the part where I tortured that Squib. Born of wizarding parents and so defenseless. It's marvelous."  
  
"You're heartless," I spat.  
  
"Oh, Lily, what a terrible thing to say. You're going to hurt my feelings if you don't be more nice to me. And you don't want to get on my bad side."  
  
"Did you bring me here to recruit me?" I asked with a shaking voice.  
  
"Oh, no, no, no," he said with a chuckle. "Never would I dream of recruiting someone with so less stature. I mean, honestly, other than being a Mudblood, you take no pride in your abilities. You still have Muggle friends, care for others whom are like you. You just don't have the qualities I am looking for."  
  
"Then why am I here?"  
  
"Like I said, there was a prophecy. A very interesting prophecy that will help me and requires you. But first, let's get comfortable, shall we?"  
  
The Dark Lord snapped his fingers and a bottle of champagne and two glasses appeared out of thin air. He poured one glass, forced my mouth open, and poured the champagne into it. The aftertaste was bitter and the little bubbles tickled my throat, causing me to cough.  
  
"There," he said, pouring himself a glass and taking a sip. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes, the prophecy." He paused, took another sip with closed eyes, and then looked back down at me. "One of my faithful followers is also an extremely talented Seer. Now, he told me that if the Golden One with the purest heart were to bring into being an heir to the Darkest Being, that heir would rapidly gain a name for himself, following in his father's footsteps, and join him to rule all peoples." He paused. "Does that make sense to you?"  
  
"Not exactly," I replied. I was very confused, not to mention sick of all the prophecies, predictions, and premonitions.  
  
"You certainly are a thick one for being the smartest girl in your year. I bet you're destined to become Head Girl. You know, I was Head Boy in my time at Hogwarts. Ah, what a lovely experience that was."  
  
The Dark Lord drained his champagne glass and threw it into the fire. The shattering of the glass was ear piercing. He then forced my mouth open again and poured more champagne into it. I swallowed and spluttered.  
  
"Well, I am getting off of the subject," Voldemort said. "As I was saying: You, Lily, are the one with the purest heart. For four years I have searched for you. When I found you, you were quite young. Twelve I would say. Maybe thirteen. But I knew I couldn't pursue you yet, you were too young to bear children." He sighed, clenched and unclenched his fists. "But I have waited patiently for two years before taking action. Besides, you have grown into such a beautiful woman-for a Mudblood that is."  
  
He reached over and pushed my auburn hair away from my face. Then his hand traced down my cheek, across my jaw line, and on my neck.  
  
He's going to strangle me, I thought frantically. He's going to kill me right now.  
  
"What are you going to do with me?" I asked, my voice was a little shaky, but I did my best to look confident.  
  
"Well, you need to give birth to my heir. And in order to do that...I think you know what has to happen."  
  
I felt disgusted. The Dark Lord wanting to do something like that with me? And he was about three times my age. That thought was very disturbing and my throat was tight, I could no longer speak.  
  
"To get on with it," Voldemort said. "I'm sure you will have no picnic, and, trust me, a Mudblood is no way I'd like my heir to be given birth by. But what the prophecy says goes."  
  
The Dark Lord got an assertive look in his eye and crawled onto the bed and over me.  
  
"You actually are quite attractive, Lily," he whispered, he kissed my ear. I recoiled in disgust and, once again, tried pulling at the ropes. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Lily. Of course, you've never done this before, but that's one of the reason's why you're the purest at heart."  
  
This time he kissed my jaw.  
  
"Why don't you make it better for the both of us?" I asked. "Why don't you put me under the Imperius Curse? I hear you're good at that."  
  
"No, I like the torturous route better," he said, in between kisses on my neck.  
  
"Why did you want me in particular?" I asked. I had to keep him talking so he couldn't get on any farther. "Why didn't you take another who was a pureblood?"  
  
"You're the only one with the purest heart. I thought you would realize that." He sat up and looked at me with his snake-like eyes. "There could have been others, but my personal tastes lead me to you."  
  
"I'm honored," I said sarcastically.  
  
"I love your fiery spirit. Now, excuse me for a moment. I fear I have other business to attend to at the moment."  
  
The Dark Lord crawled off me again and slid off the bed. When he reached the door he turned and said, "Feel free to make yourself at home."  
  
He pointed his finger in my direction and before my eyes, the skirt I was wearing disappeared. Voldemort eyed my red knickers.  
  
"Tut, tut," he said. "I've always adored the green color."  
  
He pointed his finger at my knickers and they instantly became an emerald color. He then left the room, shutting the door behind him.  
  
I can't believe this. He kidnapped me to have sex with me? There has got to be some logical explanation.  
  
That's the Muggle-mode voice talking, I heard James say in my mind. There's not always a logical explanation.   
  
There has to be, I argued with myself. At least I know I'll get out of here alive. Wherever here is and wherever I will be able to go. What is he playing at, though? Why hasn't he killed me yet? Is there really a prophecy?  
  
The door opened again.  
  
I squeezed my eyes shut so I didn't have to look at the hideous creature known as Voldemort.  
  
A minute passed. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around the room to find that no one was there. But I saw the door open. I knew I did.  
  
"You're losing it," I said to myself for the second time that night.  
  
The door opened again, and this time, Voldemort came in and sat back down on the bed.  
  
"There seems to be a little problem with security," the Dark Lord said. "There was a break in on the house, but nobody can find any evidence of the people." My eyes widened. Someone was coming to get me. "Oh, no, Lily, nobody knows where you are; no one is coming to get you," he added, interpreting my look.  
  
"Someone will come for me," I hissed, although I had no idea if that was the truth.  
  
"Mm hmm," Voldemort said. "And I suppose you think I won't follow the prophecy. Well, I may be more than thrice your age, but I am merciless. You will do what I want you to do." He ran his cold fingers over my wrist and onto the cords that held me to the bed. "And you don't seem to have a choice, do you?"  
  
"What happens if it is against my will?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing," he said with a smile. "Fertility has nothing to do with magic, therefore, the prophecy still operates. What did you expect?"  
  
I ignored that comment, and instead asked, "Why don't you just get it over with? It would certainly be easier for the both of us."  
  
"Like I said, I like the torturous route better." The Dark Lord smiled unpleasantly and leaned over me and kissed my lips. "Just make sure you hold still."  
  
He was kissing my neck, his hands reaching for the buttons of my blouse.  
  
He started unbuttoning my blouse, working his mouth down my throat and to my chest.  
  
I pulled pulling at the ropes again. Voldemort noticed and said, "Don't force it, Lily, it'll only make things worse." I could feel his hot breath on my neck when he talked. I tried to put my mind somewhere else, like back at Hogwarts with James.  
  
James.  
  
I had always imagined that my first time would be with James. Now Voldemort would steal my innocence. My eyes filled with tears.  
  
I closed my eyes again, trying to ignore the tongue tracing my chest and the cold fingers working at the clasp of my bra.  
  
This isn't happening, I tried to tell myself. This is just a nightmare. A horrible nightmare that you can't wake yourself up from. You're still at the castle where you'll be able to wake up and rush to James and he'll hold you tightly and tell you it's all right.  
  
But whatever I tried, it couldn't take away the eerie feelings of lips moving across my breasts and down my sternum.  
  
I opened my eyes only to squeeze them shut again when I saw the Dark Lord inching his way to my knickers. The tears were freely running down my cheeks. I could feel him grasp the sides of my underwear, about to pull them down, when a loud, rapid knock came at the door. My eyes flipped open again.  
  
Voldemort made an angry, impatient noise, got up, strode across the room and wrenched the door open.  
  
"What?" he spat maliciously. There were three people in hooded cloaks and masked faces outside of the door. They all bowed when they saw Voldemort.  
  
"We realize you are busy, Master," I heard Lucius Malfoy's voice state, "but, there has been another shred of evidence of a break in. I think you should take a look at it.  
  
"Very well," the Dark Lord grumbled. He turned to me again. "Excuse me, Lily, but these imbeciles don't know how to take care of a problem without my supervision." He turned brusquely and left the room, slamming the door behind him.  
  
I'm never going to get out of here, I thought miserably. I'll never see Mum or Dad or Petty again. I'll never see Sirius, Remus, Peter, or James again. I'll never be able to tell all of them how much I love them. I'll be dead and I'll make them all suffer wondering where I went. Why me?  
  
I squeezed my eyes such and wept loudly and convulsively. Tears were running rivers out of my eyes. I turned my head to wipe one eye on my sleeve.  
  
But before I could do anything, the sight I saw made me forget all about my streaming eyes. My eyes widened and I gasped.  
  
  
**Be a responsible reader and write a review!** 


	6. Escape Route

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belongs to Ms. J.K.Rowling and whoever else takes part in it. Sadly, I own nothing. But happily, JKR wrote the HP series so I could have no life and write HP fanfiction. LOL!  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Six  
Escape Route  
  
  
  
I blinked several times just to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. It just couldn't be...could it? How was it possible?  
  
"James?" I asked in a chocked whisper. "Sirius?"  
  
"Shhh," said James' head.   
  
I blinked again, just in case.  
  
James and Sirius' heads appeared to be floating in midair in the corner of the room.  
  
"James?" I asked again. James and Sirius' eyes were wide and horror stricken. "Sirius? Help me?" I implored in a whisper.  
  
"My lord, Lily," James breathed. His head made a quick movement and the rest of his body appeared and rushed to my side. His hands flew to the knots on the cords and he started tugging at them. I started sobbing uncontrollably again.  
  
The rest of Sirius' body appeared and also rushed to my side.   
  
"Shh, shh," he tried comforting me. He hooked my bra back up and started buttoning my blouse.  
  
"Sirius, it was awful," I sobbed. "Just awful!"  
  
Sirius stroked my hair repeating his comforting words.   
  
After a minute, James had managed to free my left hand. Sirius grabbed it and started rubbing my palm, for my fingers were starting to turn purple because of the tautness of the knots.   
  
"What did I do to deserve this?" I sobbed.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, Lily," Sirius said. James still yanked at the knot on my right arm. "Nothing else happened, did it?"  
  
"No. But - but, he was going to - to..."  
  
"Shh, I'll hear no more of it," said Sirius. "We can talk about it later."  
  
James had untied the bond at my other arm and scrambled over to my feet. I swiftly sat up and threw my arms around Sirius. He kissed my cheek and stroked my hair. I could feel the wetness of tears on his face when he buried his head in my neck.  
  
"We were so worried, Lily," he said. "You have no idea. When we got back into the common room, we saw the note. The one that James supposedly had written to you. The two of us rushed right up to Dumbleore and he brought us here."  
  
"Dumbledore's here?" I asked.  
  
"Yes, but don't worry about that now," James said, freeing my left foot and moving on to my right. "We need to get you out of here."  
  
"I was so worried that I was never going to get out of here," I said, holding Sirius even tighter. "And I was even more afraid of what would happen if I didn't. How did you guys know where to find me? How did you even know that I was here?"  
  
"Dumbledore knows the hideout," James said, struggling with the last knot. "He's here, but we'll explain later."  
  
James freed my last limb. I let go of Sirius, wrapped my arms around James and held on for dear life.  
  
"Oh, Lily," he said, kissing the top of my head. "I can't believe something like this would happen. It's a miracle you're still alive." He held me at arms length and looked me up and down. "What happened to your skirt?"  
  
I blushed. I had suddenly realized that Sirius and James were seeing me in my knickers and that before Sirius had buttoned my blouse again, they had seen me totally bare.  
  
"Voldemort made it disappear," I whispered, looking down. "If the Death Eaters hadn't have interrupted him, he would have had me fully undressed."  
  
"We know," Sirius said. "We were under the Invisibility Cloak watching until the signal came."  
  
"Signal?"  
  
"Not now," James said. "We've got to get you out of here before he comes back."  
  
"All three of us are going to have to get under the Invisibility Cloak. Then we're going to go down the hall and to the left, down four flights of stairs and down another two corridors. Got that?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"Then we're going to find the nearest door to the garden and then we'll meet Dumbledore at the end of the street," James added. "Ready?"  
  
Sirius nodded.  
  
"Wait," I said.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I don't want to go out there without any trousers on," I said. Sirius and James looked down at my knickers and then quickly looked up, both with identical bright yet embarrassed eyes and rosy cheeks.  
  
"Here," James said, taking off his robes so he was left in his trousers and T-shirt. "Wear these."  
  
"Thanks," I said, putting them on. The robes were warm, which made me shiver-I hadn't realized it was that cold, despite the crackling flames in the fireplace.  
  
"Ready?" James asked again. Sirius looked at me and I nodded. "Okay, get under the cloak."  
  
James, Sirius, and I slipped the Invisibility Cloak over us, becoming invisible, and walked towards the door.  
  
"Is the coast clear?" asked Sirius as James peeked out of the door.  
  
"Yes, let's move."   
  
We slowly walked out of the room and into a vast, stone corridor with deep green carpet. There were several more pictures of serpents on the walls. They glared in our direction as if they could see us. I silently prayed that they couldn't, for Voldemort was well known for being a Parselmouth-being able to converse with snakes.  
  
"James," I whispered as we reached the end of the corridor and made a left to a grand, spiraling, stone staircase. "What are the chances of us getting out alive?"  
  
"Don't talk like that, Lily," James scolded. "We'll get through this."  
  
"You don't have to soften the truth because of what I've been through. I already know the chances of us making it out alive is slim to none."  
  
"You're right, Lil," Sirius said. "The chances are slim to none, but we know what we are doing to some extent. And Dumbledore is here, he wouldn't let anything happen." He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't you worry."  
  
We started descending the staircase. The torches on the walls were glowing with blue flames, making the walls dance eerily with shadows. I could swear that the flames were casting our shadows, huddled together and moving slowly down the staircase. This house was getting creepier by the minute.  
  
After the last flight of stairs, we stepped into a narrow hallway full of Death Eaters. James, Sirius, and I stopped in our tracks, staring.  
  
"What does he think he is doing?" said one of the Death Eaters to the other four. "I mean, that Mudblood is only fifteen years old. Is that not wrong for him?"  
  
"Don't speak unpleasantly of our Master," said another. "He is doing his part in the Circle of Darkness. This is where he needs to be, and if he needs to use some fifteen-year-old Mudblood, then that's what he needs to do."  
  
"Yeah," said a third. "And did you even see that Mudblood? Man, I wouldn't mind having a go with her."  
  
I looked over at James, who was at my left.  
  
"Don't listen to them," he mouthed.  
  
"That's enough," said another Death Eater: Lucius Malfoy. "We must go find Master and tell him we've seen nothing."  
  
The Death Eaters Disapparated on the spot, leaving the hall empty save the three of us standing invisibly at the foot of the steps.  
  
"Lily, are you okay?" James asked. "I mean, I know you're not okay, but, how are you doing?"  
  
"I - I can't believe it," I sobbed. Sirius and James wrapped their arms around me. "I was kidnapped..I am part of a prophecy…"  
  
"What prophecy?" James asked quickly.  
  
"Dumbledore didn't tell you?" I asked. "Did Dumbledore not know?"  
  
"Know what?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Never mind," I said, wiping my eyes. "I'll tell you on the way."  
  
We took up walking again. Slowly, but surely, we made it down the corridor and then another one.   
  
"Start searching for doors that go out into the garden," James declared.  
  
"Will you tell us about the prophecy now?" Sirius asked.  
  
I took a deep breath and launched into explanation.  
  
"Voldemort said that there has been a prophecy around for six years that if the Golden One with the purest heart brings into being an heir for the Darkest Being, that heir would follow in his father's footsteps and help his father become the ruler of all."  
  
"That's what Voldemort was playing at?" James asked. "I saw him kissing you and I put into thought that it was just one of those kind of kidnappings...if you know what I mean. I never thought that there was a story behind it."  
  
"Let alone a prophecy," Sirius added. "When we saw him with you, our first thought was that he was going to rape you just for the hell of it."  
  
"No," I said. "Thank heavens you were there - I was really afraid that he was going to actually pull through and that the prophecy would become true."  
  
"Lily," James said, turning to me and looking deeply into my eyes. "We would never let that happen. Never. I can't even believe that I left you alone when I knew I was a target. That's the first way that the Dark Lord gets after his targets: Going after their loved ones."  
  
"But if he didn't go after Lily to get to you," said Sirius, "why does he want to get you?"  
  
"Like Dumbledore said," I stated. "Maybe something happens in the future that will cause him to want to go after you."  
  
"Like what? He just wants to kill everyone that's not on his side."  
  
"No, I don't think so," I said. "I think that there is a reason. We may never find out until the day you die, but there is going to be a specific reason."  
  
"What would it be? What would cause him to want me and my heir?" asked James.  
  
I stopped abruptly and gasped.  
  
"Heir?" I said. "Your heir? Oh, my hell."  
  
"What?" asked James, clueless.  
  
"That's it," I almost shouted, but kept my voice down. "James, I have a theory that Voldemort only comes after you and your heir because I'm the mother."  
  
"What are you on about, Lily?" James asked.  
  
"Now that you have rescued me, Voldemort won't get his chance to produce an heir with me. Don't you see? You took me away from him. He must have heard a similar prophecy about your heir being the Boy Who Lived and didn't want that to happen. Why else would he specifically pick me to bear an heir to him?"  
  
"Because you were the Golden One," Sirius said slowly.  
  
"No, Voldemort told me that his personal preferences led to me. Which means that there could have been another Golden One. He wanted specifically me so that I could produce him an heir and not for you, James, else he would be defeated."  
  
"Yeah, but two predictions can't overrule one another," Sirius said. "I mean, think of it as predicting that you will bear an heir to Voldemort and then one to James that will conquer Voldemort. That doesn't make sense."  
  
"Yes it does, Sirius," James said finally. "Voldemort only had a prophecy, Trelawney made a prediction. A premonition, more like. Voldemort's was only a possibility. Now that I have made that impossible, he'll want to kill my son and me. Can things get any worse?"  
  
"Cheer up, mate," Sirius said, patting James on the back. "You never really know if that's what will happen. I think this is the door," he added, stopping so abruptly that it made me realize that we were walking again.  
  
The door we had stopped at was a grand set of French doors. There was a window on the left side of the door that showed the a beautiful garden full of brilliantly colored flowers and had colorful lights, which I had suspected to be live fairies, hovering over the rose bushes and by the statues.  
  
"Are you sure that the door hasn't been just made to look like that?" I asked.  
  
"Why wouldn't it lead to the outside? The window shows it does," Sirius said.  
  
"Sirius, what is it that you always tell me? That in the wizarding world, things aren't always as they seem. If Voldemort thinks someone is going to escape, he'll want them to think that they're going outside, but really, the other side of that door will be heavily guarded."  
  
"Lils, you've been watching way too many James Bond movies," Sirius said. "Wizards aren't as smart as Muggles. We like to think we are, but we're not. There is no way that Voldemort would have thought of that idea. The Dark Lord is a bleeding brilliant wizard, but he doesn't know Muggle action plans."  
  
"I bet you that he does," I argued. "He's brilliant, all the more that he would think of a Muggle way of catching escapees and then make the escapees think that no wizard is smart enough to pull off a Muggle plan. It's all logical thinking. The way out is any door but this one, I tell you."  
  
"How can you be sure that we're not going to walk into a trap or the Dark Lord himself?" James asked. "I mean, to make this even more complicated, he knows you're Muggle-born, so he'll know that you will think of the idea that the logical door isn't the correct door, but it really is and all the other doors are traps. Do you see where I'm going with this?"  
  
I nodded. This was starting to frustrate me. When I saw James' head in the corner, I thought it would be just like the knight in shining armor rescuing the princess and we'd get out of the evil man's castle with no trouble at all.  
  
But I was wrong. Dead wrong. Magic is much more complicated.  
  
"What it all comes down to is if we should try this door or not," Sirius said impatiently. "Did you ever think that maybe this is the door that will lead us out? No tricks, no games."  
  
"Well, that is a possibility," I agreed.  
  
"Then let's go for it," Sirius said.  
  
He reached for the andiron handle and turned it.  
  
The door swung silently open, revealing an exquisite garden full of flowers and statues and fountains and fairy lights. It was exactly like what the window showed it to be.  
  
I let out the breath I had been holding.  
  
"See guys," Sirius said. "Voldemort wouldn't think to do something as extreme as making this an access into a trap."  
  
"Lily," James said. "I'll tell you that you did have me worried, but like I always say, you're mind is always in Muggle mode." He made a sweeping gesture with his right hand. "Shall we?"  
  
Sirius checked his watch.  
  
"It's a quarter to three. We have fifteen minutes to get to the end of the street to Dumbledore."  
  
"How far is the end of the street?" I asked.  
  
"About a quarter of a mile," James said. "We've got to hurry. Can the two of you walk quickly together under the cloak? I can slip out from under the cloak and use the Invisibility Charm on myself since I know where I'm going and you two can walk faster without me. You know where you're going, right Sirius?"  
  
Sirius nodded.  
  
"Great." James took out his wand and pointed it at himself, muttered "Tangara" and disappeared. The next second, I could feel the left side of the Invisibility Cloak's flowing material fall to my side, telling me that James had slipped out from under it.  
  
"Let's go," Sirius whispered, stepping through the door and shutting it silently behind him.  
  
We made our way down a stone path. That was too easy, my brain kept saying. Was it right?  
  
"Sirius," I said finally. "Are you sure that this isn't going to be a trap? That seemed too easy."  
  
"A trap?" Sirius questioned. "Why would it be a trap? We're outside now, we don't have to worry about this being a trap. We only need to worry about getting to Dumbledore in time. Besides, we're invisible, no one can see us."  
  
"Ah, but seeing isn't always everything," said a deep voice from somewhere.  
  
I let out a shriek and looked at Sirius.  
  
"Where are you Lily? I wasn't finished with you yet."  
  
I knew that voice. It was the voice of Lord Voldemort. How had he found us? Could he see us despite the fact that we were under the Invisibility Cloak?  
  
"What do you want from her?" Sirius said boldly. He was turning in circles under the cloak, searching for a sight of the Dark Lord.  
  
"Have you not heard the prophecy?" the Dark Lord said. "Lily is helping me with that, aren't you dear?"  
  
"I will have no part in whatever you do," I retorted.  
  
"Aw, such a pity that you don't get a choice." The Dark Lord chuckled. "And many Death Eaters are interested in having their way with you when I'm finished. It kind of makes you sound like you're just a plaything, doesn't it? Now where are you?"  
  
"You're a bastard," Sirius growled.   
  
"Where are you?" Voldemort repeated, ignoring Sirius' comment. "Don't make this more difficult."  
  
"Difficult for who?" I asked. "Myself or you?"  
  
"Oh, I have my ways to find you. I'm actually enjoying this. You are only making it more difficult on yourself. Show yourself!"  
  
"Why don't you show yourself?" Sirius raged. "Are you afraid that two fifteen-year-olds will overtake you?"  
  
"Afraid?" The Dark Lord let out a derisive laugh. "I do not get afraid. I don't negotiate with wizards of less stature either. But, nevertheless, I will show myself."  
  
There was the sound of fingers snapping and the Dark Lord appeared to the left of us.  
  
"Don't move," Sirius whispered in my ear so faintly that I almost couldn't make it out. "I'm going to give him a surprise."  
  
There was a small pop! and a massive black dog was standing next to me. Then before I knew it, the Invisibility Cloak was whipped off of me as Sirius in his Animagus dog form walked invisibly over to the Dark Lord.  
  
"Look who decided to grace us with her presence," he drawled. "And where might Mr. Black be?"  
  
"How did you know it was Sirius?"  
  
The Dark Lord let out another derisive laugh.  
  
"I have been watching you for three years, Lily. Watching you meant seeing you with your three Animagi friends and that little werewolf. I do my research, Lily. Now, if you come here quietly, there will be no harm done. But if not," he added, drawing his wand, "you know what can happen."  
  
"I won't," I said.  
  
"You will!" shouted Lord Voldemort.  
  
Then came the sound of a dog growling. Voldemort's red, snake-like eyes moved quickly in their sockets, searching for the source of the growl. Then he turned his eyes back on me.  
  
"It seems Mr. Black is in his dog form, doesn't it?" he drawled.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Ha! Three years, Lily. I know everything about you and you're little friends. Although, I must say, I am surprised that you're still friends with them after all that they've done. You see, I watch you all the time. I almost grabbed you when you were alone that day you were hacked off at the Marauders and wandered off by yourself. But to my displeasure, you're idiotic little friends grabbed you instead. You were lucky."  
  
"Why is it me that you want?"  
  
"Well, you're little theory seemed about the truth. Don't look at me that way, you certainly aren't attractive when you're mouth is hanging open." I shut my mouth quickly. "Yes, I followed you, and later I'll tell you how I found you. Now come here."  
  
"Why should I?" I asked. "You're the only one that wants this prophecy to pull through."  
  
"Oh, so not true, Lily," he said with a smile. "My Death Eaters want me to have an heir that will help me take over the world."  
  
"What about those you've put under the Imperius Curse? Those you have threatened with their lives or the lives of their loved ones? Those whom you are forcing them to do your dirty work would rather die a thousand deaths than to worship you."  
  
"Ouch, that was harsh, Lily. I've heard better. As to those who'd rather die - that can be arranged." He smiled nastily. Then his lip curled in disgust. "Now get over here or I'll make sure you'll die a slow and painful death."  
  
"You don't want to kill me," I taunted. I knew then why I was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw: it takes balls to not listen to the feared Dark Lord. "I know you wouldn't, that prophecy is too important to you and once you've killed me, there's no way that you can get me back, so the prophecy would be ruined."  
  
"Oh, but you've forgotten that there are other girls out there that could play that part, so I could just as easily kill you. And a little necrophilia never hurt anyone - especially when you're dead. Now get over here you little whore!"  
  
I heard an ominous growl then an ear piercing bark. All of a sudden, Sirius, still in dog form, jumped out from under the Invisibility Cloak and sunk his teeth into Voldemort's leg. Voldemort let out a shriek. I screamed as green and silver sparks shot from Voldemort's wand towards me. I stood horrorstruck, not knowing what to do. I could have ran, for Sirius was distracting Voldemort, but I couldn't leave Sirius there to get killed.   
  
Sirius was still clinging onto the Dark Lord's leg when he swung the other leg and kicked Sirius right on the side of his head. Sirius whimpered and collapsed on the ground. He went unconscious and, not being able to stay in his dog form while he was unconscious, slowly changed back to his human form. I let the Invisibility Cloak fall off my shoulders, wondering if I should risk running to my friend, or staying there.  
  
"That'll teach him," the Dark Lord growled, one hand on his bleeding leg. "He'll be in enough pain when he wakes up, I don't need to kill him. Come here." He pointed his wand at me. "Imperio."  
  
The most wonderful sensation wiped over me. It was as if I didn't have a care in the world. I looked at my best friend passed out on the frost-covered ground, then looked back up at the Dark Lord. I knew that I should be afraid for my life, but the floating sensation overtook me.  
  
"Come here, my lovely Lily," I vaguely heard the Dark Lord say.  
  
"Yes, Master," I replied, but it wasn't my voice. It was sweet and innocent and anything but hateful.  
  
"That's a good girl. Now we're going to go back upstairs."  
  
I nodded and followed him back into the house and up the stairs.  
  
"Master," called a voice from behind. I saw Voldemort turn around towards the bottom of the staircase, but I didn't, I was too busy enjoying the bliss, the euphoria of where I was.  
  
"What is it now! Can't you see I'm busy?"  
  
"Yes, Master, but there is someone here to see you. Someone who wants to join us," said the voice. I knew that voice, but I was too relaxed to care to remember it.  
  
"At this time of night? Well, the prophecy can wait a few more minutes while I inspect the newcomers, now can't it. Lucius, would you mind taking the Mudblood back up to the room?"  
  
"Certainly, Master," he said.  
  
Voldemort turned to me.  
  
"Now, Lily, we're going to be a good girl and we won't do anything to harm Lucius, will we? And we will do everything he says, right?" His tone was more for a toddler than for a fifteen-year-old, but I nodded. "Good girl."   
  
He turned around and swept past Lucius and me and down the corridor and out of sight.  
  
"Lily," said Lucius. "Follow me."  
  
"That's what I'm supposed to do," I said. My words sounded slow and slurred to my ears.  
  
Lucius ignored my comment and walked away from the staircase. I followed.  
  
I dazed off into the bliss of not thinking. Before I knew it, I was back out in the garden. Lucius was bent over Sirius, pointing his wand at him. I forced myself out of the fuzzy state and said, "Don't kill him. He's - he's my best friend."  
  
"Don't you worry, Lily," said Lucius. "I'm not going to hurt him." I sighed with relief and went back to the euphoric state.  
  
"Ennervate," whispered Lucius. I could hear Sirius shuffling around, rubbing his head, expressing his pain in very vulgar ways, but I couldn't see him. I started to feel dizzy. I could see purple and green colored spots in front of my eyes, but nothing else. Before I could come out of my elated state enough to say something, things went black.  
  
* * *  
  
"She easily could have died."  
  
"Thank heaven she didn't."  
  
"I didn't know that when potions were mixed with the Imperius curse it could be deadly."  
  
"Of course it can. The Imperius Curse acts as a drug itself. It thins the blood, kills brain cells, and weakens the heart. When mixed with asphodel leaves, it can be extremely dangerous with the pulmonary system. Do you know what asphodel leaves are commonly used in?"  
  
"No, ma'am."  
  
"It's - look, she's stabilizing."  
  
I could hear the whispers all around me-mostly male tones, whispering things that didn't make sense. I opened an eye to see six bleary figures. Who were they? What were they doing?  
  
"Lily," said a voice. It took me a while to realize whom it belonged to. "Lily, can you hear me?"  
  
I opened my other eye. The images instantly became clearer, sharper. Professor Dumbledore, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Madam Pomfrey were sitting on small chairs around my bed. Madam Pomfrey jumped up and started checking my vital signs by poking me in awkward places with her wand.  
  
"Lily, can you hear me?" Dumbledore repeated.  
  
I nodded.  
  
"Good. Don't try to talk - it will only make things worse. But I want you to know that you are in the hospital wing and you are safe." I nodded again. "Do you remember what happened?" Nod. "Good. We'll explain things later. Right now, Madam Pomfrey needs to have you as good as gold before we want you to tell us everything, okay?" Nod.  
  
James stood up and kissed my cheek, despite Madam Pomfrey's disapproving tut.  
  
"Oh, Lily, we were so worried. I could have lost you. Why didn't you tell us Voldemort gave you potions?"  
  
I was confused. I would have said so, but I found that my throat was tight. It felt as if oxygen was being shoved down my throat and into my lungs.  
  
"Mr. Potter, please don't distress her right this moment, she's had enough for this week I might say," said Dumbledore. James sat back down, my hand still in his. Dumbledore turned his bright blue gaze back on me. "Lily, I'm going to explain to you everything that we know so far, okay?" Nod.   
  
"As for your condition, you have been unconscious for four days. The reason is that we found, with some tests, that you had a very high amount of asphodel leaves in your blood stream, as well as spiceberry, crushed beak of a woodpecker, and fireweed. Now, I bet you know what they are used for when they are put together, but we'll cover that later. I want to continue with your condition. You are under a Breathing Charm - it does the breathing for you, like those Muggle tubes, since your pulmonary system has been under a lot of stress. That is the reason you can't speak and your throat and chest feel tight."   
  
I nodded and squeezed James' hands tighter. I felt another hand on my free one and looked to my other side to see Sirius, who had a bandage partially covering a massive bruise on the left side of his face.  
  
"As for the potion," Dumbledore continued, "I think you know by the ingredients that it was a very complex Fertility Potion." I nodded. "Good for you. Do you know how he might have given it to you?" I nodded again. "There was some champagne in your body also, so I'm assuming that's how he slipped it to you. The thing with Fertility Potion is that it makes the egg fertilized with only one time. That's it. It may be the first, it may be the hundredth, and it always works. From what Mr. Potter and Mr. Black have told me, you are very lucky that nothing even happened. Madam Pomfrey, do you suppose that you could take the Breathing Charm off of Miss Evans?"  
  
"Well, I guess that would be all right--but just for now," she said a little reluctantly. She pointed her wand at my throat and said, "Finite Incantatem."  
  
Instantly, I felt my throat burn and it became difficult to breathe. I was spluttering, gasping for air.  
  
"Deep breath, Lily," Dumbledore said soothingly. I started taking in large gulps of air. "That's it. Keep breathing. Can you talk?"  
  
"Yes." My voice sounded more like a croak.  
  
"Can you tell me what happened?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
I took a deep breath; it felt good to do it for myself. I started telling them everything I knew. Except I had to be careful not to tell him that James, Sirius, and Peter were off visiting Remus in the Shrieking Shack.  
  
"I was sitting in the common room reading. I was the only one there because James and Sirius and Peter were off to bed because Remus' mother was sick again and they didn't want to have fun without him. An owl came to the window with a note bound to its leg. It was from James saying to meet him in the Charms classroom at midnight.  
  
"I traveled down there and waited for James, but he didn't show up. Instead, masked figures showed up and Stunned me. The next thing I knew, I woke up tied to a bed and in a room I had never seen before.  
  
"Lucius Malfoy was there, I could recognize is voice. He went to get Voldemort.   
  
"Voldemort told me about the prophecy and how the Golden One with the purest heart brought into being an heir for the Darkest Being, that heir would follow in his father's footsteps and help his father take over the world.  
  
"Then he conjured a bottle of champagne. He drank some himself and then he forced some into my mouth."  
  
"The Fertility Potion," Dumbledore breathed. "He took some too?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, I'm not sure what that means, but I'm assuming that if both male and female take it, there is a 200% chance of fertility. My goodness, you are most fortunate we came just in time."  
  
"We?" I asked.  
  
"Not now, finish your story."  
  
"Well, he then started kissing me. I asked him why he didn't just put the Imperius Curse on me so it could be easier for the both of us. But he kept saying no, insisting that he liked the torturous route better."  
  
"But really, he gave you the Fertility Potion and he knew that that would be very dangerous to mix," said Dumbledore.  
  
"Right, I see that now. But I was so confused as to why he wouldn't put me under it. I'm sure he has hundreds of people under it at once. Anyway, he was about to pull my clothing off-" I looked away in embarrassment "-when there was a knock on the door."  
  
"And that's where we come in," Dumbledore said. He took off his half moon spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. I studied him; he looked older than I had ever seen him. "James and Sirius came to my office, pounding at the door. I let them in and they showed me the note that James supposedly wrote to you. I had heard the prophecy of the Golden One and the Darkest Being before, but never had I dreamed that it would be you, Lily.   
  
"I immediately thought of Professor Trelawney's prediction and figured it was Voldemort that had kidnapped you and that he was going to use you for the prophecy.  
  
"James, Sirius, and I gathered essential materials and took the Floo Network to the nearest bar. We then ran to the Dark House, as the people refer to it as, and James, Sirius, and I went separate directions.  
  
"I went to look for someone I could disguise myself as and I fortunately ran into Lucius Malfoy. I Stunned him, took some of his hairs and put them in a Polyjuice Potion. I then took his mask and robes and went looking for Voldemort.  
  
"When I found Voldemort, he was with you, Lily, I made up a story about intruders and he quickly followed me. I then showed James and Sirius where the room was and they went in there to wait for my signal.  
  
"Voldemort came back in, I waited a few minutes, and I knocked again. He left, and James and Sirius rescued you and traveled out into the garden, where you would travel down the road to meet me. But instead you met Voldemort."  
  
"The rest you know of," said Sirius. His face looked really awful, all swollen and black and purple.  
  
"But what happened after Voldemort placed me under the Imperius Curse? I remember being really relaxed and dizzy," I asked.  
  
"The relaxation is from the Imperius, it makes you not think. I know you were going in and out of it, trying to fight it, because you had your free will to talk to me, but I didn't know that you had taken the Fertility Potion. That's why I was so shocked when you passed out," Dumbledore said.  
  
"What happened after I passed out?" I asked.   
  
"I woke Sirius up, located James, and they carried you to the middle of the woods, where you'd be safe. I went back into the house to take care of some business." The headmaster looked away, I swear I saw a tears glistening in his eyes. "Lord Voldemort had found the real Lucius Malfoy and I fled. I must go," he said briskly. "I have business with the Ministry of Magic. Speedy recovery, Lily."  
  
With that, the headmaster stood and strode out of the hospital wing.  
  
"Poor dear," murmured Madam Pomfrey. "He's had a very rough life. I suspect that that was the last straw. He didn't get the revenge he wanted, but he did manage to capture three Death Eaters."  
  
"What happened?" Remus suddenly spoke up. I looked over at him. He looked much older than a boy of fifteen. His skin was pale, his eyes had bags under them, and his cheeks weren't rosy or creased from his usual polite smile.  
  
"Oh, never you mind, dears," Madam Pomfrey cooed. "I suspect Dumbledore will tell you when he's ready. Now, you all need to leave, Miss Evans needs her rest.  
  
"Wait," James said. "Can you excuse us for a moment?" He looked at Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Madam Pomfrey.  
  
"Sixty seconds," Madam Pomfrey said sternly as the four of them got up. She closed the curtains around my bed.  
  
I looked into James' deep black eyes and smiled weakly.  
  
"Oh, Lily," he whispered. "I was so worried! I can't even believe I let this happen!" He put his head in his hands.  
  
"James," I said, my voice still somewhat hoarse. "It wasn't your fault. It was nobody's fault. Voldemort is a mastermind lunatic. You could not have known. I could not have known."  
  
He looked back up at me.  
  
"I know," he sighed. "I'm so thankful you're all right that I can't even put it into words."  
  
I pulled him to a standing position next to my bed.  
  
"I am too. Thank you, James, for rescuing me." I pulled him even closer and leaned up to meet his lips.  
  
"Sixty seconds are up!" called Madam Pomfrey from behind the curtain. James pulled away and kissed my nose, my forehead, and the top of my head.  
  
"I love you."  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"Get some rest," he said softly. He turned and left behind the curtain.  
  
Madam Pomfrey came in and gave me a goblet full of purple liquid.  
  
"Dreamless sleep," she informed me as I drank it. As soon as the goblet was drained, my head hit the pillow and I drifted off into a deep sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
"Lily," I heard someone hiss. I opened my eyes to meet darkness and two figures.  
  
"Mm?" I mumbled, rolling over on my back.  
  
It was Sirius and Remus, standing on the left side of my bed.  
  
"We just wanted to check on you," he said.  
  
"Thanks," I said. "Why?"  
  
"Well, we feel really horrible about what happened," Remus said.   
  
"Remus, there was nothing you could do about it; even if you weren't in your wolf form. It wasn't anybody's fault."  
  
"I know, but I can't help but feel responsible. I mean, I'm the reason that James, Sirius, and Peter were not there to verify that note. I'm sorry."  
  
"Remus, don't be. I'll be okay. I promise. I will never hold this against any of you. None of this was your fault." He leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I love you, Remus," I said.  
  
"I love you too, Lily."  
  
I sat up and looked at Sirius, his swollen face looked worn out and relieved.  
  
"I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help," he said, not looking at me.  
  
I reached up and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at me.  
  
"Sirius Alan Black," I said with an air of scolding. "You saved my life by risking yours. You are my hero, Sirius. And a damn good hero you've turned out to be." He smiled weakly and leaned over to kiss my cheek also. "I love you Sirius," I whispered.  
  
"I love you too, Lils," he whispered back. "Now go back to sleep."  
  
I nodded, rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes. Sirius rubbed my back for a good thirty seconds - or at least that's how long it took me to fall asleep again.  
  
I slept. Dreamlessly, peacefully, getting rid of all cares in the world.  
  
  
  
A/N: Hoped you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome! ;)  
  
**Be a responsible reader and write a review!** 


	7. The Cure

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and Co. Miss JK Rowling and whoever else that takes credit does. I merely own the plot of this story and nothing else. No profit is meant to made by this--I am simply sharing my creativity.  
  
  
Free Falling  
Chapter Seven  
Recovery  
  
  
"The test results are back, Miss Evans." I looked into Madam Pomfrey's hazel eyes then grasped James' hand. Sirius and Remus put their hand on my shoulders and Peter gave me a sympathetic smile.  
  
We were sitting in the hospital wing, the four Marauders, Professor Dumbledore, and I, waiting to hear what else had been going on with my body.  
  
"You have been greatly weakened by the Imperius Curse, but there has been no permanent damages physically or magically.  
  
"As for other things, we tested you for pregnancy because there was a chance that someone had sexual relations with you while you were Stunned. The test came back negative.  
  
"And then there's the Fertility Potion. You took a small amount, according to the test, but it was a very strong and effective potion. You may notice that your menstrual cycle will not begin for another two months. That means that the egg is still waiting to be fertilized." She looked back and forth between James and me. "It is my duty to advise you to refrain from any - er - sexual activities until your menstrual cycle comes again."  
  
I blushed and nodded. From the corner of my eye, I could see James blushing and Sirius with a huge grin on his face.  
  
"You may also experience dramatic mood swings. I assure you all that that is normal due to the Fertility Potion.  
  
"Miss Evans," Madam Pomfrey continued. "I see it fit for you to leave the hospital wing - as long as you come up here during lunch break to take Coughing Potion."  
  
My lip curled in disgust. Since I had been in the infirmary, which was about a month, I had developed a type of bronchopneumonia and had to take several potions. Now, I only had a slight cough, and had to take Coughing Potion - which tasted by far worse then any Muggle cough syrup. It was green and tasted like dirt. Even thinking about it made my stomach churn.  
  
"There is one more thing," Dumbledore spoke up for the first time that whole meeting. "As much as we are all pleased to have Miss Evans in her right and healthy state, there are still rules in this school. Miss Evans, it is my duty to take one hundred points from Gryffindor House for roaming in the halls after hours." I nodded-I deserved more points taken away, for none of this would have happened had I obeyed the rules. "Mr.'s Potter and Black," Dumbledore continued, turning to James and Sirius. "It takes courage to save someone's life, but it takes even more courage to not go off on your own and come to an adult for help. For that, I award you fifty points each. Also, with the bravery you have shown, I award you fifteen points each." James and Sirius smiled, their cheeks rosy.  
  
"Thank you all for everything," Dumbledore said, standing up. "And we all look forward to having you back in classes." With that, Dumbledore left the wing, his silver hair sweeping behind him.  
  
"Well, you're free to go, Lils," Sirius said, motioning his hands towards the door. I smiled, got up from my bed, and headed towards the infirmary door.  
  
Once outside the infirmary, Sirius said, "I understand everything she said to you, except for the part where she said that a side effect would be dramatic mood swings. Can you put that into English?"  
  
"It practically means that I'm going to be PMS-ing for the next two month," I stated. Sirius and James stopped in their tracks and glanced at each other with wide eyes.  
  
"Does that mean you'll be a total bitch for the next two months?" asked James cautiously. "Are our lives going to go to hell?"  
  
"Am I really that bad?" I asked. I took their silence as a yes. "Oh, come on guys, she said mood swings. That doesn't mean I'll be bitchy for three months…then again, you never know."  
  
I started walking up the wooden staircase.  
  
"Well, what kind of mood swings are we talking about?" asked Remus.  
  
"Oh honestly!" I said irritated. "Madam Pomfrey said 'you may' which means I might. It doesn't mean I will."  
  
"It's already begun," I heard Sirius mutter. I walked down the corridor faster.  
  
"If you want to tell me about my mood swings, go ahead. It's not like you're the ones that have been through hell and now you can't have any fun because of your condition." I stalked off.  
  
"What does she mean by she can't have any fun because of her condition?" Peter asked.  
  
"Put two and two together, Wormtail," Sirius said. "We all know what that one meant, right James?"  
  
"Just leave her alone, all right, guys. She's right, she has had a bad past month. We all have," James said.  
  
I walked into the common room and up the stairs to my dorm.  
  
* * *  
  
"Lily?" I heard James call into my dorm.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Sleeping," I mumbled.  
  
"Mind if I join you?"  
  
I smiled and scooted over.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
James crawled into my bed with me.  
  
It was midnight on a Wednesday night one month after I had gotten out of the hospital wing. I was previously alone in my dorm for Astronomy classes were taking place and Madam Pomfrey had told me that I couldn't do those lessons for a while because I needed my rest. Of course, I didn't have any objections--I would be alone in my dorm to get some peaceful sleep.  
  
But James was now in my dorm, his body was warm next to mine, I felt a tingle go down my spine as he kissed my lips.  
  
"Mm," I moaned. "I thought you were supposed to be in Astronomy class?"  
  
"Why would I go off and have fun without you, darling?"  
  
"Oh, and this is more fun?" I teased.  
  
"Well, maybe a little snog would help," he said.  
  
"I definitely wouldn't object to that," I purred.  
  
"Good," he said in between kisses. "I haven't had any time to spend alone with you."  
  
"I know. It's been driving me mad."  
  
"Me too," he whispered, kissing me again.  
  
After a few minutes of uncontrollable snogging, James' hands started moving up and down my back, tickling my spine. I moaned and reached for the buttons of his shirt. Soon my hands were roaming over his bare chest, his lips were moving down my throat. He reached for the buttons of my nightgown and started fumbling with them, after each one was opened, his kisses moved lower and lower. My fingers entangled in his thick, midnight hair. His lips had reached my breasts and were traveling down, down across my abdomen. I reached down, starting to unbutton his trousers.  
  
"Lily, what the hell are we doing?" James asked, sitting up abruptly.  
  
"Mm, don't stop, James," I moaned.  
  
"Lily, I don't think-" he started, but I pressed my lips onto his and kissed with wild passion.  
  
James pulled away from me. I looked at him with innocent shock.  
  
"Lily," he said calmly. "This isn't such a good idea."  
  
"Why not?" I asked annoyed.  
  
"This isn't like you, Lily. You know that it's only been a month since you got out of the hospital wing. You have a few weeks to go before the Fertility Potion wears off."  
  
"Never mind that," I whispered. "I've waited five years for this day, I can't wait any longer."  
  
James' cheeks flushed.   
  
"Five years? Lily, this isn't right. We can't do this now. You're not in your right mind."  
  
"Of course I'm not in my right mind-I'm under the influence of James Potter."  
  
"Lily," he said, buttoning his shirt once more, "we both know that this isn't what we want right now."  
  
"That's not what it looks like," I retorted. James blushed and buttoned his trousers.  
  
"You know exactly what I mean, Lily. We both know the consequences of sleeping together when you're still under the Fertility Potion. I know you don't want to become pregnant right now. We need to take it easy for now."  
  
I buttoned my nightgown, pulled my hangings back, and got up from the bed.  
  
"Where are you going?" he asked.  
  
"Right now you're sounding like my father, James, and right now, I don't fancy sleeping next to my father."  
  
I stalked off to the bathroom. I heard James sigh then leave the dormitory.  
  
* * *  
  
"Tell me again why she's mad at you?" I could hear Sirius say.  
  
I was sitting, concealed, on the stairs to the girls' dormitories. It was close to midnight. I had claimed to Sirius and Remus that I was going to bed, but really, I sat on the staircase and thought of why I was mad at James, when I shouldn't have been. But there was a strange grudge holder side of me, which wasn't normal. It was as if I hadn't been myself lately.  
  
"I've told you," James said, in a hurt and annoyed tone. "She hasn't been in her right mind. It's that potion."  
  
"Yeah, but what's she mad about?"  
  
"I wouldn't have sex with her," James said. I imagined his cheeks coloring at this statement.  
  
"She's hacked off because you wouldn't shag her?" Sirius said, with an air of laughter. "Man you have a lot of self-control to stop yourself from not sleeping with her. Let's face it, she's beautiful, hot, gorgeous, however you want to put it. And she has a nice body. And her personality is great. The way her jade eyes light up when she smiles. James, you are my idol. My idol."  
  
"That's enough, Sirius," Remus said. "We all agree, but we're here to help James patch up things with Lily."  
  
"She's been hacked off at me for over a week. It's definitely not like her to hold a grudge. She never holds grudges."  
  
"James, we all know that it's the potion that's making her go through these mood swings," Sirius said. "And you know how she is when she's wrong: She'd rather burn at the stake than admit it." I bowed my head in shame, for Sirius' statement was true. "James, no matter how right you think you are, you need to go to her and be the peacemaker."  
  
"You're right," James sighed. "I love Lily more than anything. I'd give my life for her. I need some time alone."  
  
I heard footsteps across the common room fading as James left Gryffindor tower.  
  
I got up from the stairs and went to my dorm to think over what Sirius had said.  
  
James was right, I thought. We both knew the consequences and he was the only one to do something about it. To make it stop before it was too late and we regretted it. I couldn't believe I was angry with James over such a petty thing as sex. Sex can come and go and it lasts for a while, but love is around forever. It never goes away. I needed to apologize to James.  
  
* * *  
  
The next day, which was Saturday, I spent the day in my dorm, thinking about how to apologize to James for being an inconsiderate little…never mind that-the important part was that I knew Sirius was right and I needed to tell James I was sorry.  
  
What should I say? What could I do? I had been completely rude on my part and the truth was that I knew I had been. But I wasn't going to let this one go as if I were the one that was right.  
  
* * *  
  
After Charms class on Monday, two weeks later, I cornered Sirius. James gave me a hurt look, and Remus grinned nervously. Peter was picking up some book that he had dropped. James and I had talked only necessarily during the past month, and it was killing me.   
  
"Sirius," I hissed. "I need you to help me."  
  
"With what?" he whispered back.  
  
"Um...I need to apologize to James for being a bitch to him."   
  
Sirius gave me an appraising.  
  
"Are you telling me that you were wrong and that you're going to admit it?"  
  
"Oh, shut it, Sirius. We all know I was wrong and, yes, I am admitting it. Now, what I want you to do is-"  
  
"Wait, wait, wait. You're admitting it, and you're going to apologize?"  
  
"Would you just listen?" I raged. I quickly quieted when I saw that a group of passing Hufflepuffs were staring at us. "What I want you to do is get James in the common room alone next Monday. Don't tell him that it is me that wants him to be there, but make up some stupid reason why you have to leave, then the rest will be up to me. Do you think it would work?"  
  
"First of all, just the fact that you're going to be face to face with James again will capture his attention so he'll listen. Secondly, he's so in love with you, Lils, that he can't even eat anymore. He's lost interest in everything and his marks are going down."  
  
"He's stopped eating? Is that why he's been losing a lot of weight?"  
  
"Yeah. Gosh, it's awful to see him like that, Lils; you have no idea."  
  
"Jeez, I've been such a bitch to him. I don't know if I can wait until next Monday to talk to him."  
  
"Hey, what's with Monday? Why not tomorrow?"  
  
"Mm...Monday is a special date," I said, smiling. Sirius looked clueless for a while, then his eyes brightened and a smile spread across his face.  
  
"Anything to help the lovely Lily," Sirius said with a bow. He put his arm around me and escorted me off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
"So, it really came?" he asked. "Not that I'm interested in hearing about it," he added quickly.  
  
"Yep," I replied with a sigh. "It really came."  
  
Sirius kissed me on the cheek and bowed me into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.  
  
* * *  
  
Easter hols came that Sunday. We had a week off from classes the next week. Everybody in Gryffindor went home for the holiday except for Sirius, Remus, James, two first year boys, and me. Peter, who was a mamma's boy, went home to his mother and went to France to visit his grandmother.  
  
All of Monday morning, I had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn't even believe I hadn't talked to James for a whole month. He didn't try to talk to me, either, but then again, I deserved it.  
  
I was getting dressed into my best gown, which was the exact color of my eyes, it was modestly cut and hung to my body, when Sirius walked in.  
  
"Sirius!" I exclaimed. "I'm only in my underwear!" I tried covering myself up, but it wasn't worth it, Sirius had seen me a lot more naked than this when I was tied to the bed in the Dark House, although he never mentioned anything about that.  
  
"Lils, I'm only interested in looking at your face," he said, walking up to me. "Carry on."  
  
I pulled my dress on and he zipped it up.  
  
"Are you nervous?"  
  
"Of course I am. I haven't talked to James for an entire month. How is he doing? You didn't tell him did you? Is he really pissed off at me? Will he even talk to me?" My words were like a whitewater river.  
  
"Calm down, Lily," he cooed. "He'll talk to you. He's about to go out of his mind, to tell you the truth. He's about ready to beg for YOUR forgiveness."  
  
"Well, he doesn't need to. If anything, I don't blame him for not talking to me. I mean, I wouldn't talk to me if I were him."  
  
"You look gorgeous, Lils," Sirius said softly as I applied the finishing touches to my makeup.  
  
"Okay, I'll be waiting at the top of the staircase for your signal," I said. I took a deep breath and expelled it loudly.  
  
"Don't worry Lils, James is my best friend, I know him like I know a book-"  
  
"Oh, and what book would that be? Since for five years you haven't opened a single book," I teased.  
  
"You know what I mean. I'm using one of your Muggle expressions. Anyway, good luck." He kissed my cheek and exited my dorm, I followed silently.  
  
"Jamesie-boy," Sirius called once he had reached the common room."  
  
"Leave me alone," James, who was in the boys' dormitory, called grumpily down the stairs.  
  
"James, you can't stay in there forever. Come down here."  
  
"What do you want?" James asked, I could see the top of his head appear at the top of the stairs.  
  
"Come play chess with me," Sirius said.  
  
"Fine," James agreed.  
  
"Good, you sit here by the fire and I'll go get our pieces."  
  
"Sirius, I can go get them, I'm right here."  
  
"Um...no, you sit here and I'll get them."  
  
"Why are you acting so weird?"  
  
"Weird? I'm not acting weird. You sit here and I'll be back soon." The last words were loud so I could here them. I heard James sigh as Sirius' footsteps were heard going up to his dorm.  
  
I took another deep breath and started descending the staircase.  
  
James looked up at me. I made eye contact with him and he looked slightly nervous. I walked over to the fire and sat in the chair next to the one he was sitting in.  
  
"Hi," I said nervously.  
  
"Hi," he said back, looking confused yet relieved. "What are you doing up this late? Doesn't Madam Pomfrey want you to get a lot of sleep." He sounded genuinely concerned and my heart melted.  
  
"James," I said, trying to hold the lump in my throat back. "I need to talk to you about what has happened over the past month. I want you to know that I'm really sorry about the way I have been treating you lately. And I want you to know that it's not your fault that I acted that way. I hadn't been myself. And I want you to know that I-I still love you." A tear rolled down my cheek.  
  
James got up from his chair and sat on the arm of mine. He wiped the tear off and kissed me on the cheek.  
  
"Lily, I know that it has been really hard for you lately,. But it's been really hard on every single one of us," he said softly. "I've missed you so much, Lily."  
  
"I've missed you too. And I'm so sorry for the way I've treated you. It wasn't right for me to do that. You were right that night, it would have been really stupid had we slept together. I don't know what came over me. It was just like all my brains and logic went away on holiday or something."  
  
"Yeah, it can sometimes do that," James teased. I laughed. "So, on a more serious note, it's been two months since you got out of the hospital wing, how are-er-you doing?"  
  
"As of last week, I'm back to normal," I said, smiling. James grinned widely and kissed my cheek.  
  
"I'm glad," he said, meeting my lips.  
  
"Not as glad as I am," I said. "That was hell, that was."  
  
"It wasn't as bad as you being upset with me. Next time you're hacked off at me, just AK me and get it over with. I don't want to go through that again."  
  
"Don't be silly," I said. "I wouldn't use the Killing Curse on you--I love you too much."  
  
"Good," he said, kissing my earlobe. "I love you too much to let you kill me."  
  
"That's good to know."  
  
"Now what are we going to do?" he asked.  
  
"Well, if you're being the typical teenage boy, my dorm is all to myself," I said slyly.  
  
"Typical teenage boy?" he asked he asked with a smile. "Are you implying that all I think about is sex?"  
  
"Oh, at least once every four minutes," I replied in a singsong voice.  
  
"Hmm...that seems about right," he said. I laughed and kissed him again. "That empty dorm seems inviting," he whispered.  
  
"Shall we?"   
  
"Are you sure that the Fertility Potion has worn off?"  
  
"Absolutely positive," I replied.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
James stood up and held out his hand. I took it and started leading him across the common room and up the stairs to my dormitory. James wrapped his arms around me and started kissing my neck. Soon I was swept off my feet and carried into my dormitory where James locked he door behind us.  
  
* * *  
  
The sunlight was creeping through the windows and my eyelids. I sighed. Had it been a dream? Had it been real? I slowly opened my eyes and rolled over to see James fast asleep under the blankets of my bed. I reached over and pinched his arm.  
  
"Ow!" James exclaimed, his eyes flying open instantly. He looked at me. "What'd you do that for?"  
  
"I was making sure that I wasn't dreaming," I replied, a smile on my face.  
  
"Aren't you supposed to pinch yourself?" he asked.  
  
"Ooo, somebody's cranky."  
  
James smiled and rolled over to his side, facing me. I did the same.  
  
"I'm not cranky," he replied. "I was sleeping. Sleep is precious to me."  
  
"Well, I don't think you got much of that last night," I teased.  
  
"Neither did you," he said.  
  
"Yeah, but it was a hell of a lot of fun."  
  
"You've got that right," he said, scooting closer to me and kissing my lips.  
  
"What'll Sirius and Remus think?" I asked.  
  
"Hmm...what else would they think?"  
  
"You'd better get back to your dorm before they come looking for us," I said. "And I don't fancy them seeing me like this."  
  
"But I do," James teased, pulling the covers over our heads and kissing deeply.  
  
"Did you mean you want them to see me stark naked or that you want to see me stark naked?"  
  
"I don't want them to see you naked. I want you all to myself."  
  
"You'd better leave, else they will come looking for you; you know that."  
  
"I know, I know, but you aren't making it easy for me to leave."  
  
"You had better go, James."  
  
"I love you, Lily," he said, getting out of bed and picking up his clothes that had been scattered throughout the room.  
  
"I love you too, James." I said with a smile on my face that I couldn't get rid of.  
  
James pulled on his clothing, leaned over and kissed me one last time, and left me to myself in my dorm.  
  
I sighed and thought of last night. It was romantic and fun. James was really nervous. Well, I was too, but I was much better at hiding it. James was trying to conjure some candles, but he couldn't get the spell right. Instead, he changed the color of my bed hangings from scarlet to a royal purple. The second time, he made the curtains of the window by my bed have a flower pattern. I was in a fit of giggles and James was blushing deeply. He gave me an embarrassed smile and then said the spell right, conjuring a hundred scarlet candles. With a flick of his finger, all the candles lit, creating a soft glow.  
  
I looked at my hangings and curtains and chuckled. I reached for my wand then hesitated. These were relics, so-to-speak, of what James and I had shared. No that was ridiculous. The first time is something you should keep in your heart, your soul, not something you should keep on the windows and bedposts. Besides, I doubt that my dorm mates would want their windows patterned with snow white Lily's. Hmm...how thoughtful of James to pick that flower. He had lilies on the brain. I wonder why….  
  
I smiled and crawled out of bed, pulling on my dressing gown. I changed my bed hangings and the curtains back to their normal state then headed for a nice long shower.  
  
* * *  
  
I was in the shower, taking my sweet time, reminiscing of the night James and I spent together, when I heard someone walk in. How could that be? I thought I locked the door. I looked out from behind the shower curtain to see Sirius standing there, looking slightly nervous, yet slightly smug.  
  
"Sirius!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing in the girls' prefect bathroom? Did you not notice the door was locked? And how did you even know where it was?"  
  
"Simple: The Marauder's Map," he said, pulling out a yellowed, rolled up piece of parchment.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" I asked again.  
  
"I just wanted to see if you're okay," Sirius said.  
  
"Oh hell! That's what you've interrupted my shower for? Yes, I'm perfectly fine."  
  
"Well, I was just making sure."  
  
"What makes you think I wouldn't be okay?"  
  
"James isn't talking to me, so I was wondering what happened last night. Did you make him sleep in the common room?"  
  
I let out a derisive laugh. Sirius must have not been using his common sense at the moment, or else James told him and he didn't believe him so he thought he'd get it out of me.  
  
"Goodbye, Sirius. I want to get back to my shower now." I disappeared behind the curtain again.  
  
"Lils, I'm just playing with you," Sirius said. I looked out the curtain again. "Congratulations."   
  
My face flushed slightly. Well, what did I expect; that they wouldn't find out? That they'd be completely oblivious to the fact that James spent the entire night in my dormitory?  
  
"Thanks," I said. "Now you're completely embarrassing me, so leave."  
  
"I am. I just want you to know that I'm happy you and James are together. There's no one else that I'd rather see together than you and James."  
  
"That means a lot to me, Sirius," I said. "That's really sweet and-"  
  
"Unpredictable?"  
  
I laughed.  
  
"Yes. Sweet and unpredictable," I said. "Now can you leave? I'll talk to you later."  
  
"You just take your sweet time. I love you, Lils," he said softly.  
  
"And I you," I replied, smiling. Having Sirius as a friend was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me.  
  
* * *  
  
Two weeks later, I saw James and Sirius conversing in low tones at the dinner table. I figured that they were planning as prank or being typical boys (and talking about what all guys talk about). I ended my conversation with Mina, a dorm mate of mine, and turned my ear to listen to them.  
  
"He can't be serious, not while Dumbledore's around," James was saying.  
  
"Yeah, but last time it was right under Dumbledore's nose," Sirius replied.  
  
"He can't get to me while Dumbledore's here, he doesn't stand a chance."  
  
"How can you say something like that? The man's a bleeding genius."  
  
James looked up and elbowed Sirius, whom looked up and smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes. His eyes were full of fear, cold, blackness.  
  
"What are you two talking about," I asked slyly.  
  
"Nothing," James blurted out quickly. Too quickly, I thought. I gave them a skeptical look, but started up a conversation about the upcoming Quidditch final against Slytherin.  
  
"Of course we'll win," Sirius said loudly as a group of Slytherins walked past, causing them to scowl. "We've got the best Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen on our team." He placed his hand on James' shoulder as the Slytherins stalked off.  
  
"It's true," I said, giving him a grin. "I've been watched you play Quidditch since second year. You are the greatest Chaser Hogwarts has ever seen."  
  
"And that's why Lils is in love with you," Sirius teased. "That, and you're a demon in the sack."  
  
"How would you know?" Remus, who had been listening in, asked with an arched eyebrow.  
  
"Lils, could you pass me the peas please?" Sirius asked, glaring at his friend.  
  
I handed Sirius the large bowl of peas. Sirius loaded peas on to the spoon and flung them at Remus.  
  
Being slightly taken aback, it took Remus a second to retaliate. He grabbed his half-eaten roll and aimed it at Sirius. Right then I knew why Remus wasn't on the Quidditch team-his roll went straight at James' head, which caused James to throw a spoon full of mashed potatoes at Remus.  
  
The food fight continued. I watched with very loud giggles. Peter got hit with a slice of beef and hid under the table. Sirius had hair full of treacle pudding, James was drenched backwashed in pumpkin juice, and Remus was green from all the peas Sirius had launched at him.  
  
Professor McGonagall ran over to the Gryffindor table, which all were in giggles.  
  
"Stop it this instant!" she cried. James and Sirius stopped. Peter came up from under the table. I was gasping for air from laughing so hard. "I expect more from Gryffindors. And to think that you, Potter, are a prefect. I hope you are completely ashamed of yourselves and I must take ten points off of Gryffindor and detentions."  
  
She turned and stalked back to the high table. The boys just laughed.  
  
"Man, I thought we'd be in even deeper trouble," Sirius said with a sigh. "It certainly helped to take my mind off of things."  
  
"Tell me about it," James said.  
  
"Why don't you tell me about it?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, it's no reason. You know, nerves for the Quidditch match."  
  
"Oh," I said. They were hiding something from me--I could feel it.  
  
"I've got to go shower," Sirius replied.  
  
"Haven fun. Ow! Oh right, I-uh-have to go shower too. Are you coming Remus, Peter?" James said, wincing. Something was up. I decided to take drastic measures.  
  
"But James," I pouted, pushing my lips out slightly. "I want to shower with you."  
  
James stopped what he was doing and looked at me. Sirius and Remus glanced at me, shocked, and then turned their gazes towards James.  
  
"Well, um...you're not finished with your dinner yet. I'll meet you in the common room in an hour."  
  
"I've already had enough to eat. Besides, you don't fancy showering with someone who's overweight, do you?"  
  
"Lily, I don't think that's such a good idea right now. Maybe later tonight, but not now."  
  
"But I want to now," I pouted. "I want YOU now."  
  
Sirius and Remus looked at me again, this time with their mouths slightly hanging open.  
  
"Lily, I'm gross and sweaty and covered in sticky pumpkin juice, now's not the time."  
  
"I know you're keeping something from me," I said.  
  
"What? What do you mean by that?" James asked.  
  
"Since when have you ever declined to sex? Since when has any man ever declined to sex? There is something going on that you're not telling me. I can tell when you're lying and I know you are. I will not stand deception. Tell me and get it over with, that's all there is to it."  
  
I looked back and forth between the three of them. None of them were going to tell me.  
  
"If you decide you want to tell me, I'll be in m dorm. Until then, I'm not talking to any of you."  
  
I got up and left the Great Hall, leaving James, Remus, and Sirius dumbstruck. I could here James calling me, telling me to wait as I walked up the marble staircase. I didn't turn around and I heard Sirius and Remus stop James and tell him that I was right and that they couldn't and shouldn't keep secrets from me. I kept walking.  
  
I gave a frustrated sigh when I reached my dorm. I sat down on my bed. Maybe this was something I didn't want to know. No, if it were something important, I would want to know about it. Otherwise, I would just get pissed and wouldn't be able to help. Was I going about this the wrong way? Maybe, but like I said, take some acting classes or don't mention one thing because I will not stand deception.  
  
There came a small knock at my door.   
  
"Go away, James," I said. The door opened and someone walked in. "I said go a-Oh! Remus! I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was you."  
  
"That's okay, Lily," Remus replied. "I just thought I ought to talk to you. Especially about what happened at dinner."  
  
"I know. I shouldn't have stalked out like that."  
  
"Not only that, but you were a complete bitch." I was slightly taken aback for I had hardly heard Remus cuss; he especially watched his mouth around me. "And you gave away too much information. What has gotten into you?"  
  
"Me? I don't like being lied to. I know there's something wrong that the four of you aren't telling me. I was just using the shower as an excuse to see if he really was lying."  
  
"Well, James wants to talk to you, so you better ask him what's up because it's not my place to tell you. Just give him a chance." Remus kissed my cheek and left the room. Not long afterwards, James entered the room and nervously sat next to me on my bed.  
  
"I'm sorry, James. It was wrong of me to say things like that."  
  
"No, no, I'm sorry, it wasn't and isn't right for me to keep things from you."  
  
"Well, what is it?" I asked.  
  
"First, I want to tell you I love you."  
  
"I love you too, James," I replied.  
  
"No, I mean I really love you. Lily, you complete me. You're the cure to all my fear and my pain. Have you ever been in love with someone so much that you feel as if you're falling?" He paused and brushed my hair out of my face. "I'm falling, Lily. Not just falling, but free falling-I have nothing to grab onto and nothing to stand in my way. Nothing will ever make me stop loving you." He leaned over and kissed me. "Now, for what I need to show you."  
  
James pulled a crumple piece of parchment from out of his trouser pocket.  
  
"It's this."  
  
He unrolled the parchment and I started gravely at it.  
  
"Holy shit," I whispered. James just nodded.  
  
Written on the parchment in curvy handwriting was, "Beware, Potter, Beware." And at the bottom left corner was a skull and serpent: The Dark Mark.  
  
  
  
A/N: Well, that's the end! Hope you enjoyed reading part one of the Falling Series. Yes, it is rather mean to end a story with a cliffhanger ending, but how can I get you to read the sequel? The sequel will most likely be titled "Even Angels Fall". And also, do you remember in ch. 6 when Dumbledore says that he had some business to take care of some business and when Madam Pomfrey says that Dumbledore has had a rough life? For that, I might mention it several times during the semi-sequel.  
  
I'd also like to thank all my reviewers.  
  
**Be a responsible reader and write a review!** 


	8. Epilogue

A/N: Epilogue added to answer a few unanswered questions...to give it more closure.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot.   
  
  
  
Free Falling  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
The last month of my fifth year was the happiest I had ever remembered being at school. Despite the threatening note James had received from Voldemort, we returned to our normal selves.   
  
When I was ready, I owled my mother and father about my abduction. They were angry that they hadn't heard of it right away, but they understood that I needed healing time. It still isn't something I enjoy talking about, almost six months later. They knew that I had good friends to help me get through my experience and they knew how much I trusted Professor Dumbledore.  
  
In turn, when they owled me back, I received a small note from Petunia. I assume that Mum and Dad made her write this note, as I couldn't go on being uninformed of her news. Petunia was very serious about seeing someone with the name Dursley. They had been talking about marriage for quite some time, and after Petunia's seventh year, they were to be wed. I really don't know if Petty truly wanted me to come, but I know I have to go anyway. It's not that I don't want to go, but, as nasty as my sister is to me...honestly, it makes me wonder...how could someone outside of the family love her in that way? I don't know.... Maybe it's because I think the name Dursley doesn't suit her. This Dursley sounds like a great prune....  
  
I chose not to talk about my recovery, as those weren't the best times in my life. Spending several nights alone, crying like a small child on my bed in the hospital wing, wishing for anything that would make me forget the pain of almost being raped by the most infamous wizard of modern times. It doesn't do to dwell on memories of such when I can reminisce about the good times I had with Sirius, Remus, Peter, and James.   
  
The four of them are the best things that have ever happened to me. I love then with every cell in my body. Even though I don't quite like Peter, I still love him. I don't know why I don't like him. There is a feeling that envelops me every time I think about him. It's being silly, really.... Perhaps I should ignore the burning in my brain that tells me to turn from him. Sirius, Remus, and James trust Peter with their lives, why shouldn't I?  
  
The four of them were always there for me. They stick up for me always. And they know that I can't be touched by anyone else but them, otherwise, I freak out. They even started checking up on me. Even in the middle of the night. Of course, they always thought I was sleeping when they checked on me...but how could I sleep with the nightmares I had been having?   
  
Nightmares still haunt me at least once or twice a fortnight. They are the same, over and over again, I see Lord Voldemort huddling over me, kissing me, pouring a glass of champagne mixed with Fertility Potion into my mouth. Many nights, I've been sneaking into the hospital wing for Dreamless Sleep Potion. Well, not exactly sneaking - James, Sirius, and Peter didn't know. I think Remus knows, though, but he won't say anything. Funny the way he works. I think that's why I love him, he's a mystery to me and I can still trust him with my every being.  
  
The ride home on the Hogwarts Express was tranquil. We talked about the OWLs we had gotten. I received twelve OWLs, as did James. Sirius and Remus received eleven and Peter pulled through with nine. I am so proud of them! And, of course, they were proud of me. Sirius commented on how sure he was that James and I were going to get the position of Head Boy and Head Girl. "How precious," he had commented. "The Head Boy and Head Girl are two lovebirds."  
  
At Kings Cross Station, I hugged Remus, and Peter and kissed them on the cheek. Then I kissed Sirius' lips lightly, pulled him into a deep hug, and thanked him for everything he had done for me. We both knew that our relationship had grown profusely since he had helped rescue me that night, only half a year ago.  
  
Then I kissed James deeply. Since the beginning, I knew I loved James more than life itself. Some people don't understand that at age sixteen you can be truly in love, but James and I knew, as well as Sirius, Remus, and Peter.   
  
James invited me to his house nearing the end of the holiday and I gladly accepted. It would be hard not seeing him for two months. Sirius, Remus, and Peter were going also, and I looked forward to seeing them outside of school.  
  
As I got into the car with my mum, dad, and Petty, I watched my four best friends make their way to the barrier that led them to the Floo station where they would meet their parents. Driving back to where I called home only during summer hols, I thought about what upcoming adventures we would have next year at school. They were certain to be wild, and undoubtedly scary. Who knows? With Voldemort gaining power everywhere, we might even have a few more dangerous adventures. I shudder to think that, but, the five of us are capable of choosing our own destinies, and Dumbledore knows that. In a way, I think he is allowing us to take part in the war against the Dark Side. Strange to think that a group of sixteen-year-olds could be able to fight against the Dark Lord, but Dumbledore knows what he's doing.  
  
All in all, it's been the most wonderful year ever. And I can't wait to see what happened in the years to come.  
  
  
  
A/N: Free Falling has officially ended. I'm sad! I've had so much fun! But, I'm in the process of writing Even Angels Fall - the semi-sequel to Free Falling. Check it out!  
  
Thanks to all the reviewers. I really appreciate al the support you have given me and all the friends I have made. Without you, I could have never finished this! Okay...that sounded a little cheesy. *grins*  
  
Happy Reading, wherever your mind and eyes take you now!  
  
~Lavender 


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